[ 2012-04-28 ]

Bawku MP Seeks More Time
Egbert Faibille, counsel for Adamu Daramani
Sakande, the Member of Parliament for Bawku
Central who has been accused of perjury, yesterday
asked the court to give them additional time for
them to file their written addresses.

He told an Accra High Court presided over by
Justice Charles Quist that they had not finished
filing their addresses and would therefore need
more time.

Counsel for the MP prayed the court to give them
time and the trial judge consequently had the case
adjourned to May 11, 2012.

Rexford Wiredu represented the state.
Mr. Faibille, at the last hearing date, indicated
that they had gone through the records and were
okay with it, but noted that there was an omission
of a few lines in which the MP said he was
Ghanaian, and as a result the judge allowed more
time for the corrections to be effected.

The prosecution, during the trial, called an
immigration officer, Nolasco Nhyiedu; the
Municipal Electoral officer of Bawku, John Bosco
Anyigire and Sumaila Bielbiel, who claimed the MP
was British.

The MP, who denied any wrongdoing, brought Marlon
Praises Anipa, the friend who accompanied him to
the lawyer to renounce his British citizenship,
and Stanley Opoku, an immigration and asylum
consultant with Stanley Adam & Co Chambers in the
United Kingdom (UK), who prepared his renunciation
papers.

The immigration consultant, at the last hearing,
testified that he prepared the renunciation
documents for the MP and said that the documents
were genuine.

He also refuted Rexford Wiredu's allegations that
he had no right to quote any law in England
without bringing the said law, explaining that the
British Nationality Act he quoted was easily
accessible.

The witness said this when he was under
cross-examination by Wiredu.

The witness, who was accused of not being a
lawyer, was asked by Mr. Wiredu to tell the court
which Inn he was called to, but Mr. Opoku noted
that it was only barristers who were called to the
bar, and when asked of his solicitors license,
replied that it was only solicitors who were given
solicitors license in the UK.

Explaining further, the witness said he was a
non-practicing lawyer who specialized in
immigration and asylum law and was not a
barrister, as only barristers argued cases in
court while solicitors did solicitors work, adding
that there were various categories of the law, as
a result of which lawyers in the UK were regulated
by different bodies depending on their area of
specialization.

Wiredu put it to the lawyer that he was a 419 man
who just paraded about as a lawyer, to which the
court said it found the language unacceptable.

The immigration consultant had earlier told the
court that he flew from his base in London to come
and testify because as a lawyer, he was interested
in helping the court to arrive at the truth.

He said he had been practicing for the past 16
years and had never come across a situation like
that of the MP's, and because of that felt he
should come because he was the one who had
processed the MP's renunciation forms. He also
noted that he did not want to keep his side of the
story away from the court as he might lose clients
as a result.

The witness had stated that he took the MP's
British passport and sent it to the Home Office as
part of the renunciation process.

He noted that after an applicant paid the
statutory fees, the person processing the
renunciation documents was only required to post
the documents to the Home Office, after which the
applicant would no longer be considered a British
citizen.

Source - Daily Guide

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