The Court of Appeal has struck out an application by the Attorney-General seeking a stay of execution of its judgment acquitting and discharging former Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) Chief Executive Officer, Sedina Christine Tamakloe-Attionu, after the State withdrew the application.
The development means the Court did not proceed to determine the substantive merits of the Attorney-General’s request to suspend the effect of the acquittal.
The application was filed after the three-member Court of Appeal, on July 30, 2026, unanimously overturned Ms Tamakloe-Attionu’s conviction and 10-year prison sentence on corruption-related charges.
The Attorney-General had subsequently directed the Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal the appellate court’s decision before the Supreme Court and sought a stay of execution pending the determination of that appeal.
The State had argued that allowing the acquittal to take immediate effect could create circumstances that might frustrate the intended Supreme Court appeal, including the possibility of Ms Tamakloe-Attionu leaving the jurisdiction.
The case against Ms Tamakloe-Attionu dates back several years and centres on alleged financial misconduct during her tenure as MASLOC CEO between 2013 and 2016.
She was prosecuted alongside former MASLOC Chief Operating Officer Daniel Axim over allegations involving, among other offences, stealing, conspiracy to steal, causing financial loss to the state, conspiracy to cause financial loss, money laundering and breaches of the Public Procurement Act.
The prosecution’s case was that funds belonging to MASLOC had been improperly disbursed through various transactions. The trial began in 2019 and involved six prosecution witnesses.
Ms Tamakloe-Attionu was tried in absentia after she travelled to the United States for medical treatment and did not return to Ghana to continue the trial. The High Court subsequently proceeded with the case in her absence.
On April 16, 2024, the High Court convicted her and sentenced her to 10 years’ imprisonment with hard labour. Her co-accused, Daniel Axim, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
The conviction remained in force while Ms Tamakloe-Attionu was in the United States.
In January 2026, she was arrested in Nevada following a request by Ghanaian authorities for her extradition. A U.S. magistrate judge subsequently certified her extradition, and the U.S. authorities authorised her surrender to Ghana.
She arrived in Ghana on June 9, 2026, and was taken into custody. Reports indicated that she subsequently began serving the 10-year sentence at the Nsawam Medium Security Female Prison.
Her arrival in Ghana, however, was followed by the determination of her appeal against the conviction.
On July 30, 2026, the Court of Appeal unanimously overturned the High Court’s decision, acquitting and discharging Ms Tamakloe-Attionu.
The appellate court held that the prosecution had failed to establish the charges against her beyond reasonable doubt and consequently quashed the conviction and sentence.
The decision effectively brought a dramatic turn to a case that had culminated in her extradition to Ghana to serve the sentence imposed in 2024.
The Attorney-General, however, announced shortly after the ruling that the State would challenge the decision before the Supreme Court.
The withdrawal of the stay application does not, by itself, mean that the State has abandoned its intended Supreme Court challenge.
The Attorney-General has already indicated an intention to appeal the Court of Appeal’s substantive judgment. The Supreme Court therefore remains the next potential forum for the State’s challenge.
For now, the Court of Appeal’s acquittal and discharge stand, following the striking out of the Attorney-General’s stay application after its withdrawal.
