High Court presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay has rejected a move by Deputy Attorney General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai to re-examine the prosecution’s first witness in the trial of former Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Infrastructure and Investment Fund (GIIF), Solomon Asamoah and the erstwhile board Chairman of the Fund, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, (Sky Train Case) who are accused of causing $2 million financial loss to the state via the Sky Train project.
His question concerned the controversy over whether the project had been approved by the board before the Fund made the investment. The witness, Yaw Odame-Darkwa, had categorically maintained in his evidence-in-chief and cross-examination that the GIIF board did not approve the $2 million investment, and that it should not have been undertaken.
So far, the defence has tendered multiple documents and email correspondence, all of which indicate approval of the project. For instance, there is an existing email that was circulated to members of the GIIF board in October 2018, which categorically listed the Accra Sky Train project as one of the projects approved by the Investment Committee of the board and was set down as an agenda to be discussed by the board at a subsequent meeting.
An additional example is the Board-approved audited annual financial statements, submitted into evidence earlier, which list the Skytrain project as one of the GIIF Board-approved investments.
An internal memo of the GIIF tendered without any objection by the prosecution also referred to the Accra Sky Train project as one of the projects approved by the Fund’s board in 2019The defence concluded their cross-examination of the witness on Monday, 9 February 2026, and the Deputy Attorney General sought to clarify the prosecution’s position on board approval.
“Counsel showed some documents to you and suggested to you that part of their content amounted to board approval of the Sky Train project. Now tell the court, did any of those documents amount to a board approval of the project?” he asked when given the opportunity for re-examination.
The defence objected to the question, with Yaw Acheampong Boafo, counsel for Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi, arguing that the purpose of re-examination is to clear ambiguities.
He said that when a document is tendered in evidence, it is considered documentary evidence in the hierarchy of evidence and is rated as having the highest probative value, and that its content will literally speak for itself.
He added that if the document were tendered to show approval for the Accra sky train project, it would clearly state that, with no ambiguity.
Victoria Barth, counsel for Mr. Asamoah, sided with her fellow defence lawyer and further pointed out that the Supreme Court, in several cases, has held that where there is conflicting oral testimony against documentary evidence, the authenticity of which is not in doubt, the court is to lean in favour of the documentary evidence.
“There is no ambiguity, and even if there were, the law is clear as to how the court is to resolve it,” she added. The objection was opposed by Justice Srem-Sai, who also argued that there is no document in evidence showing that the board has approved the Sky Train project or the transfer of the $2 million.
He said there is no document in evidence to contradict the prosecution’s case that no board approval was obtained. He added that if the documents do indeed speak for themselves, the defence lawyers would have simply tendered them without asking any questions about them.
The trial judge, Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, in her ruling, held that the prosecution did not satisfy the court on the grounds for re-examination. She further indicated that the prosecution was unable to identify which questions and answers were ambiguous.
She therefore upheld the objections and declined the question. The case was adjourned to Wednesday, 11 February 206, for the prosecution to call their second witness.
Background
In 2019, the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) invested US$2 million for a 10% stake in Africa Investor Skytrain Consortium Holdings (“Ai Skytrain”), the company developing Accra’s Skytrain light railway project.
The Africa Investor Group (the “Sponsors”) was selected and granted the rights to develop the project by the Government of Ghana (“GoG”) through the Ministry of Railways Development (“MORD”).
At the time, the Chairman of GIIF was Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was Mr Solomon Asamoah. The Chairman had previously been a member of the GoG. Mr. Asamoah was an international development banker who had been headhunted for the position by a UK recruitment agency.
Following a change of government in Ghana in December 2024, the GoG, through the office of the Attorney General of Ghana, now alleges that this action was taken without Board approval, resulting in a willful financial loss to the state, as there is as yet “no railway built”.
It should be noted that there are no allegations of personal gain or diversion of funds in the charges, and the state has not charged anyone from MORD or the GoG-selected sponsors; only the GIIF Chairman and CEO have been charged.
The state witnesses who initially faced charges of causing financial loss to the state themselves dropped these charges after stating they did not approve the project, casting significant doubt on the reliability of their statements.
The prosecution’s case is built almost entirely on these statements to show that a legitimate transaction was “unauthorized”, without which there would be no case to answer.
“The prosecution’s case appears to be politically motivated, intended to fulfill a campaign promise to prosecute members of the previous government. It is unsupported by the facts, relying on demonstrably false witness statements,” a lawyer familiar with the case stated on condition of anonymity.
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