A last minute intervention by the Attorney General saved the Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante-Apeatu, from being sentenced yesterday for contempt of court.
The IGP, who was not in court, was to be sentenced today after being found guilty of contempt for disobeying a court order to provide police escort.
When the case came up in court, Godfred Yeboah Dame, Deputy Attorney General, stated that the conviction of the IGP has been appealed and apologised for his absence.
Mr. Dame told the High Court, presided by Justice Daniel Mensah, that the Attorney General has filed three applications to prevent the court from sentencing the IGP to either a jail term or a fine.
The first application, he said was for a suspension of execution while the second one was a notice of appeal.
He said the third application would seek to prove that the property under contention which resulted in the contempt belonged to the Ghana Police Service.
Two weeks ago, Justice Mensah convicted the IGP for disregarding his order directing the IGP to provide police escort to assist with the eviction of occupants of 12 blocks of flats at Madina REDCO in Accra.
The occupants to be evicted from the flats under dispute were police personnel.
The case began in 1988 when Mrs. Aggrey, now deceased, filed the case against REDCO Company Limited for failing to pay an amount of money owed her.
Subsequent to her demise, Samuel Aggrey Jnr and Augustine Gyekye took over the case.
She won the case as the court in its judgment attached the 12 blocks flats at Madina in Accra with the court deciding that if REDCO defaulted in payment, the court would sell the property to retrieve the money for her.
REDCO appealed the decision and lost but gave out the property to the Ghana Police Service to accommodate some of its officers even before the court ruled on the matter.
The Police Service reportedly purchased the property from REDCO and claimed ownership.
The applicants then went back to court to seek an order for the police to vacate the property and rather help to execute the High Court order to sell the property.
The lawyers then filed a case citing the IGP for contempt after the police failed to execute the order and rather claimed ownership.
The court held that once the flat was in the custody of the court, it was illegal for anyone to sell or buy the property and that the police should have done due diligence.
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