Mallam Isa loses appeal but gets lesser sentence
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 October 2001- The Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal on Tuesday dismissed an appeal filed by Mallam Ali Yusif Isa, former Minister of Youth and Sports, against his conviction and sentence by the Fast Track Court (FTC) in July this year but got a lesser sentence.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Omari Sasu with Mr Justice Sule Gbadegbe and Mrs Sophia Adinyira as members, however, quashed certain consequential orders made by the court.
The panel was of the consensus that since the two charges preferred against Mallam Isa, that is, stealing and fraudulently causing financial loss to the State, were based on the same acts, the additional sentence of fine imposed on the appellant was rather "unfortunate."
The court, however, explained that even though both charges were based on the same acts and facts, there was no provision in the law that stated: "an accused person cannot be punished on the same acts."
The panel held the view that even though a trial court normally took into consideration a situation where two or more offences against an accused person arose from the same facts, since one act could constitute several crimes, an accused person could be punished on all the crimes.
The Court of Appeal said it was satisfied that the trial court adduced enough evidence to support the two charges preferred against Mallam Isa. Therefore, in upholding the July 20 ruling of the FTC, the Court of Appeal declared: "appeal against conviction fails, and it is hereby dismissed."
It ordered Mallam Isa to serve the four-year prison term, refund the 46,000 dollars, and pay the 10 million cedis' fine, but set aside the additional three years that he was to serve if he defaulted. Mr Osafo Sampong, Director of Public Prosecutions represented the State, while Mr Ambrose Dery defended Mallam Isa.
On July 20, the FTC sentenced Mallam Isa to four years' imprisonment on two counts of stealing and fraudulently causing financial loss to the State. It ordered him to refund 46,000 dollars that he stole within two months or in default serve a two-year jail term.
Additionally, the court imposed an additional fine of 10 million cedis on the appellant and ordered that he went in for 12 months if he failed to pay the fine.
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