The Accra High Court has rejected an open-court plea by lead counsel for former Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, seeking a long adjournment of the trial.

Joseph Kpemka, lead counsel for Abdul-Hamid, had prayed the court for an adjournment on the grounds of ill health, exhaustion, and the upcoming bar conference. However, the court directed the parties to return tomorrow for the continuation of the case management conference.

Mustapha Abdul-Hamid and seven others are standing trial over allegations of extorting monies from players in the petroleum sector. The accused persons had previously attempted to strike out the charge sheet, but their application was dismissed by the court, paving the way for the pre-trial process to continue.

Speaking to the media after the proceedings, Mr Kpemka explained that he had requested the adjournment for a number of reasons.

"You recall that when we applied to the office of the CJ to waive the holidays for us to have the vacation, he actually indicated that adjournments are actually at the discretion of trial courts and not the CJ, and that if we needed that, we should pass it through the court. And we have attended court throughout the holidays. There's no adjournment that we have been absent," he said.

He said the defence team had made a prayer for a number of reasons.

"Counsel has been unwell. That's one. And two, you know that the bar conference is coming next week. And subsequently, we have other activities just before, and we are exhausted. I mean, the legal year took a toll on us. We are all exhausted. And we also needed that maybe we could get the judge's attention to give us a few more days after the legal year so that we come back in October," he explained.

However, the court refused to accede to the prayer.

"But my lord said that we should come back tomorrow. And that he was not acceding to the prayer. And we are obliged to be in court tomorrow, and we will so be," Mr Kpemka said.

He stressed that the request was not made lightly.

"As I indicated, there were good reasons why we wanted the adjournment. It wasn't a frolic of our own that we wanted to embark upon. As I indicated, on grounds of ill health, one. Are you not feeling well yourself? Yes, and a number of counsel actually. And then two, that we were also talking about one fundamental issue, which is the bar conference next week," he said.

He added that the defence team was praying for a few weeks to recuperate and recover from the "very torturous journey" they had gone through throughout the legal year.

Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, a former Minister for Information under the Akufo-Addo administration, was appointed CEO of the National Petroleum Authority in 2021. He and seven others are facing allegations of extorting money from players in the petroleum sector.

The accused persons had filed an application to strike out the charge sheet, but the court dismissed it, paving the way for the pre-trial process to continue.

The parties are expected to return to court tomorrow for the continuation of the case management conference.