The trial of former President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwasi Nyantakyi, has taken a three-month-long adjournment as the court awaits the decision of the Court of Appeal.
The long adjournment is primarily a result of the impending legal vacation which commences on August 1, ushering in the 2024/25 legal year in the first week of October 2024.
Mr. Nyantakyi and Former Northern Regional Representative of the GFA, Abdulai Alhassan, are before the court charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, fraud and corruption.
The trial is a result of alleged corrupt dealings at the GFA which were exposed by Anas Aremeyaw Anas in his ‘Number 12’ investigative piece.
Justice Marie-Louise Simmons, the presiding judge was expected to hear the outcome of an appeal filed by the prosecution challenging a decision by the court to allow Mr. Nyantakyi to see Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ face in chambers before he testifies.
The court could not sit yesterday and the information gathered indicated that the case was adjourned to October 16, 2024, as the appeal is yet to be heard by the Court of Appeal.
The trial judge has in the past expressed dissatisfaction about all the delays occasioned in the trial.
Justice Simmons during one of the hearings had warned that if by the end of April 2024, no meaningful steps have been taken in the appeal against the court ordering Anas Aremeyaw Anas to show his face to Mr. Nyantakyi in chambers before testifying, the two accused persons would be discharged.
That notwithstanding, the court reluctantly turned down a request by the defence attorney in May this year, for the court to follow its previous directive and discharge the accused persons.
