Accra High Court has struck out an application by the Attorney-General’s Department seeking to revoke permission granted to former Chief Executive Officer of the National Buffer Stock Company, Hanan Abdul-Wahab, to travel to London for medical treatment.
The court held that the application had become moot because the travel order granted on July 4 had already expired on July 12.
Hanan Abdul-Wahab was arrested at the Kotoka International Airport after prosecutors alleged that he had breached aspects of his bail conditions while attempting to travel.
Following the court’s decision, his lead counsel, former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame, criticised the State’s handling of the matter, accusing it of frustrating the execution of the court’s earlier order.
According to Mr Dame, the State’s actions prevented his client from benefiting from the travel permission granted by the court.
“I think first and foremost, the conduct of the State must really be emphasised,” he said.
“I’m quite surprised that the State will actually behave in this way, conduct itself in a way just to violate a citizen of Ghana in this manner.”
Mr Dame alleged that his client was detained for four days and that the State’s decision to file an application to revoke the travel order after the order had expired was improper.
“They prevented the court order from being obeyed by arresting him and detaining him for the period that you all know, four days and four nights, and then deliberately filed a motion and faced it until after the lapse of the order,” he stated.
He argued that the Attorney-General’s application could not succeed because the travel permission was no longer in force.
“I’m surprised that the Deputy Attorney-General will come to court seeking to revoke another which has lapsed. Clearly that application was incompetent, could not be granted because the order had lapsed,” Mr Dame said.
He further accused the State of deliberately causing the expiration of the order by preventing his client from travelling.
“They orchestrated the lapse of the order because they arrested him, put him in their cells and seized his passport for him, preventing him from travelling,” he alleged.
The court’s decision means the Attorney-General’s application to revoke the medical travel permission will not proceed.
The circumstances surrounding Hanan Abdul-Wahab’s bail conditions, his travel request and the continued holding of his passport and other personal items remain issues of contention between the defence and the State.
