Court of Appeal strikes out AG’s bid to suspend Sedina Tamakloe’s acquittal after withdrawal

The Court of Appeal has struck out the Attorney-General’s application seeking a stay of execution of its decision acquitting and discharging former Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) Chief Executive Officer, Sedina Christine Tamakloe-Attionu.

The three-member panel took the decision on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, after the State withdrew the application before the court could rule on its merits.

Principal State Attorney Hilda Craig told the court that the Republic no longer wished to pursue the application.

“The Republic, applicant herein, wishes to withdraw the application filed on July 30. We filed the notice of withdrawal on August 10, 2026,” she said.

Counsel for Ms Tamakloe-Attionu, Sidney Antonio, did not oppose the withdrawal but noted that the State should have sought leave of the court.

The panel, presided over by Justice Sophia Rosetta Benasko Essah, subsequently struck out the application as withdrawn.

Justice Benasko Essah explained that the panel had received a warrant from the Chief Justice to sit and deliver its ruling on the matter, which had initially been scheduled for determination.

The development follows a major turn in Ms. Tamakloe-Attionu’s long-running criminal case.

From conviction to acquittal

Ms Tamakloe-Attionu, who served as MASLOC CEO between 2013 and 2016, was prosecuted alongside former MASLOC Chief Operating Officer Daniel Axim over alleged financial misconduct.

The charges included stealing, conspiracy to steal, causing financial loss to the state, conspiracy to cause financial loss, money laundering, and breaches of the Public Procurement Act.

She was tried in absentia after travelling to the United States for medical treatment and failing to return to Ghana to continue the trial.

On April 16, 2024, the High Court convicted her and sentenced her to 10 years’ imprisonment with hard labour. Daniel Axim was sentenced to five years.

Ms. Tamakloe-Attionu remained outside Ghana while the conviction was in force.

In January 2026, she was arrested in Nevada following an extradition request from Ghana.

A U.S. magistrate judge subsequently certified her extradition, after which arrangements were made for her surrender to Ghanaian authorities.

She arrived in Ghana on June 9, 2026, and was taken into custody. She was subsequently reported to have begun serving her 10-year sentence at the Nsawam Medium Security Female Prison.

However, the legal position changed after the Court of Appeal heard her challenge against the High Court conviction.

On July 30, 2026, the three-member Court of Appeal unanimously overturned the conviction and sentence, 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.

AG seeks to preserve appeal

Following the acquittal, the Attorney-General indicated that the State intended to challenge the Court of Appeal’s decision at the Supreme Court.

The AG subsequently filed the stay application, seeking to suspend the effect of the acquittal pending the intended appeal.

The State had argued that allowing the acquittal to take immediate effect could create circumstances that might frustrate the intended Supreme Court proceedings, including the possibility of Ms Tamakloe-Attionu leaving the jurisdiction

However, the State has now withdrawn that application.

The Court of Appeal, therefore, did not determine the merits of the stay request and instead struck it out as withdrawn.

The withdrawal of the application does not, by itself, amount to an abandonment of the State’s intended challenge to the substantive acquittal.
For now, the Court of Appeal’s decision acquitting and discharging Ms Tamakloe-Attionu remains in effect.