A former president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwesi Nyantakyi would have to wait a little longer to know the outcome of an appeal by investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
Mr Anas is challenging a high court decision requiring him to unmask during testimony in the ongoing corruption trial.
The former GFA head is standing trial for fraud, corruption, and conspiracy to commit fraud over his involvement in the #Number12 exposé by the investigative journalist that led to Mr Nyantakyi's removal from office.
In May 2023, an Accra High Court ruled in favour of Mr Nyantakyi, ordering that Anas Aremeyaw Anas must be unmasked and identified in chambers by the former GFA chief, a decision Anas appealed against.
That appeal has stalled the trial process due to a "system challenge" at the court registry, which has hindered the necessary documents from being forwarded to the Court of Appeal.
Today [Monday, June 10] in court, Kwesi Nyantakyi's lawyer, Baffour Gyau Bonsu Ashia, repeated an earlier request for the court to discharge his client. However, the sitting judge, Justice Marie-Louise Simmons, declined the request, stating she is obliged to wait for the outcome of the appeal filed by Anas Aremeyaw Anas to determine the fate of the case.
She added that the court registry has resolved the challenge and successfully compiled the necessary documents to be forwarded to the Appeals Court in due course.
The court had threatened to discharge the accused persons and dismiss the case if the first witness failed to appear before it by April 30, 2024.
Mr Nyantakyi is standing trial together with the former Northern Regional GFA head, Abdulai Alhassan, who was absent in court today, Monday, June 10.
The case will be called again at the High Court on July 10 at 9 am.
Latif Iddrisu