Former Deputy Attorney-General Alfred Tuah-Yeboah has described the Court of Appeal's decision to acquit and discharge former MASLOC Chief Executive Officer Sedina Attionu-Tamakloe as "strange" and "surprising," insisting that the prosecution presented overwhelming evidence to support her conviction.

Speaking on Joy FM's Newsnight on Thursday, July 30, Tuah-Yeboah, who was part of the extradition process that brought Ms Attionu-Tamakloe back to Ghana to stand trial, said he expected her to exercise her constitutional right to appeal but never anticipated that the appellate court would overturn her conviction on the grounds of evidential shortcomings and legal defects.

"I knew that she had the right to appeal, but I never had in mind that the Court of Appeal was going to set her free because I've seen in the judgment they delivered today. So, I'm surprised," he said.

Responding to suggestions that prosecutors may have mishandled the case, the former Deputy Attorney-General firmly defended the work of the Office of the Attorney-General and investigators from the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).

He commended what he described as the diligence of the prosecution team, arguing that the evidence placed before the trial court was compelling.

"The evidence on record, I can say without any equivocation, is so solid that the decision of the Court of Appeal to set her free because the evidential burden was not met is rather strange and very surprising," he stated.

Tuah-Yeboah cited several instances from the trial to support his position. He referred to evidence concerning a GH¢500,000 loan advanced by MASLOC to a microfinance company in the Ashanti Region.

According to him, after the company received the cheque, it realised it could not meet the conditions attached to the facility and decided to return the funds. However, he alleged that Attionu-Tamakloe instructed the company's officials to refund the money in cash instead of returning the cheque.

He said evidence before the court showed that the officials travelled to Accra in 2014 with GH¢500,000 in cash and handed it over to Ms Attionu-Tamakloe at a filling station, where she allegedly issued a written acknowledgement of receipt.

"If this is not evidence that the Court of Appeal should accept, then what else do you expect a court of law to accept?" he asked.

The former Deputy Attorney-General also pointed to evidence relating to funds allocated by the government to support victims of the Kantamanto market fire.

He said although more than GH¢1.4 million had been released for the intervention, an audit found that less than GH¢800,000 had been utilised, with the remaining funds unaccounted for.

Mr Tuah-Yeboah further cited evidence regarding approximately GH¢1.8 million earmarked for a nationwide sensitisation programme for MASLOC beneficiaries.

According to him, evidence before the trial court showed that Attionu-Tamakloe visited only three regions and spent about GH¢1,300, leaving a substantial portion of the allocated funds unexplained.

He also referred to another amount of GH¢246,000 allegedly allocated for financial assistance, claiming it was neither used for its intended purpose nor returned to MASLOC.

Mr Tuah-Yeboah argued that the cumulative evidence supported the prosecution's case and rejected the Court of Appeal's conclusion that the evidential burden had not been met.

He also took issue with the appellate court's finding that the charge sheet was defective, arguing that even if defects existed, they were technical and should not have resulted in an acquittal where there was sufficient evidence to support the offences.

Citing provisions of the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, he argued that an appellate court should dismiss an appeal where no substantial miscarriage of justice has occurred, even if technical defects are identified in the charge sheet.

"With all due respect, the Court of Appeal erred big time. It never adverted its mind to the law that we have in our statute books and decided to acquit and discharge Tamakloe without any basis," he said.