Court Admits GIIF Board Emails as Evidence in Sky Train Trial

The High Court (Criminal Division 4) in Accra has admitted into evidence a set of email correspondences and attachments exchanged among members of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) board, despite strong objections from the prosecution in the ongoing Sky Train trial.

Yaw Odame-Darkwa, a former GIIF board member and chair of its Audit Committee, remains in the witness box as the trial continues before Her Ladyship Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay.

The case centres on allegations that about US$2 million was used without the requisite approvals to acquire shares in a foreign company linked to the Sky Train project.

During proceedings, counsel led the witness through the audited financial statements of GIIF for the year 2020.Odame-Darkwa confirmed that the document listed board members and their respective committees and bore the signatures of the board chairman and the Chief Executive Officer.

The court admitted the audited financial statements into evidence as Exhibit 22.Counsel for the first accused person, Solomon Asamoah – Victoria Barth – then sought to tender several emails and attachments exchanged between GIIF board members and the company secretary between 2018 and 2020.

Yaw Odame-Darkwa confirmed that he had reviewed the documents, compared them with records in his email inbox and found them to be the same in content.

The emails, sent mainly in September 2020 by the Company Secretary, Harriet Aban, were accompanied by numerous attachments, including audit committee reports, risk reports, investment committee memoranda, board meeting notices and documents referencing projects such as Marine Drive, Crown Safari and the Accra Sky Train.

Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, objected to the tendering of the emails and attachments, arguing that the prosecution did not have all the listed documents and that some file names did not correspond with the documents provided.

He further contended that under sections 51 and 52 of the Evidence Act, only relevant evidence of consequence to the issues in the trial was admissible.

According to the prosecution, the core issues before the court were whether there was board approval for the Sky Train investment, approval for the payment of funds and parliamentary approval for an international transaction.

Dr Srem-Sai argued that none of the documents sought to be tendered demonstrated such approvals and that board decisions were not taken through email correspondence.

In response, Victoria Barth submitted that the authenticity of the emails and attachments was not in dispute, as the witness had confirmed receiving them.

She argued that the documents were relevant, particularly a risk report acknowledging Sky Train as an existing GIIF project.

She pointed out that the same risk report and audit committee findings were reflected in the minutes of the GIIF board meeting of 25 September 2020—already admitted as Exhibit 9—which were signed by the acting company secretary and the board chairman.

Barth further noted that Yaw Odame-Darkwa himself, as audit committee chair, had presented an audit committee report referencing the Accra Sky Train project and its challenges, including delays in feasibility studies due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She argued that the email correspondence was crucial not only for relevance, but also for testing the credibility and recollection of the witness, who had earlier denied approval of the Sky Train project.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the court overruled the prosecution’s objection, holding that the documents would be admitted “for their worth.” The emails and attachments were accordingly admitted into evidence as Exhibit 23.

 

 

 

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