The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has filed a stay of execution and a notice of appeal against a High Court ruling directing the Attorney-General to take over prosecutions initiated by the OSP.
The application for stay of execution is expected to be heard on May 21 by the General Jurisdiction division of the High Court.
This was disclosed in court on Thursday, April 23, when parties appeared in the Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) case, in which former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is an accused person.
The ruling being challenged held that the Office of the Special Prosecutor requires specific authorisation under its parent Act to prosecute cases.
In the absence of such authorisation, the court declared the prosecutions invalid and ordered the Attorney-General to assume responsibility for them.
The development has led to adjournments in affected cases, pending a determination of the OSP’s prosecutorial mandate.
At least two cases, including the SML case involving Ken Ofori-Atta and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) case involving Mustapha Hamid, have been adjourned to May 26.
