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The Supreme Court has given the green light for five persons standing trial for the $4million NCA scandal to have access to documents that will be relied upon by the prosecution.

Apart from the five individuals - Eugene Baffoe- Bonnie, William Tevie, Nana Yaw Ensaw, Alhaji Salifu Osman and George Oppong, other beneficiaries of the court ruling include Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni, who is standing trial for causing financial loss to the state, and all accused persons in the country.

The NCA and Opuni cases were suspended at the High Court after the Court referred Article 19 clause 2 (e) and (g), which borders on fair trial to the Supreme Court for interpretation.

That was after lawyers for the accused persons argued that per Article 19 clause 2 (e) and (g), their clients were entitled to all the prosecution documents

Interpretation

In a landmark judgement today, a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court held that persons charged with all criminal offences were entitled to disclosures by the prosecution.

According to the court, accused persons were entitled to all prosecution witness statements even if the statements would not be tendered in court.

Also, the court held that accused persons must be given all exhibits that the prosecution would tender as evidence.

The court, however, stated that the disclosures were subject to certain conditions such as its relevance, the public good, state security among others.

The disclosures, the court stated, must be determined based on the discretion of the prosecution, but that was subject to a review of a court.