Court of Appeal clears former MASLOC CEO Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, overturns 10-year jail term
The Court of Appeal has freed former Chief Executive Officer of MASLOC, Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, after tossing out her conviction and 10-year prison sentence.
In a unanimous decision delivered on Thursday, the three-member panel — Justices Emmanuel Ankamah, Emmanuel Senyo Amedahe, and Samuel Obeng-Diawuo — ruled that prosecutors failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.
The court was blunt about the trial judge’s handling of the case. According to the panel, the High Court “lost sight” of a basic constitutional principle: that every accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The justices also raised concerns about how the prosecution conducted the case, saying the evidence presented did not meet the legal threshold needed to sustain the convictions.
The full 94-page judgment with detailed reasons will be released later today.
How we got here
Tamakloe was convicted in April 2024 by High Court judge Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe, after a trial that began on January 30, 2019. She faced 78 counts tied to her time running MASLOC. The charges included stealing, conspiracy to steal, woefully causing financial loss to the state, causing loss to public property, improper payment of public funds, unauthorized commitment, and money laundering.
The prosecution, led at the time by former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame and supported by EOCO investigations, accused her of misusing public funds across several MASLOC programs.
Key allegations were:
- GH¢500,000 loan diversion: Funds meant for Obaatanpa Microfinance, which had rejected the loan over interest rate concerns
- Misused funds for MASLOC sensitisation programs
- Diversion of relief funds meant for victims of the Kantamanto Market fire
- Inflated procurement of vehicles and mobile phones
To prove its case, the state called seven witnesses and relied heavily on a forensic audit report.
With Thursday’s ruling, the Court of Appeal has set aside the High Court’s judgment and ordered that Tamakloe be acquitted and discharged on all counts.
The appellate court’s full reasoning is expected before close of business today.
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