Accra: The Court of Appeal has overturned all 78 convictions against the former Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Christine Tamakloe Attionu, in a comprehensive judgment spanning 124 paragraphs delivered on July 30, 2026.
According to Ghana Web, the three-judge panel meticulously reviewed the charges against Tamakloe, evaluating the evidence presented by the prosecution against the legal standards required. The Court identified several critical flaws in the prosecution's case, leading to the decision to set aside the convictions.
One of the principal charges involved the alleged theft of GHS500,000, supposedly refunded in cash by Obaatanpa Microfinance Company to Tamakloe in August 2014. The prosecution's evidence hinged on a letter, Exhibit A, purportedly signed by Tamakloe. However, in her 2017 police statement, Tamakloe expressed uncertainty about the authenticity of the signature. The Court found that the prosecution failed to authenticate the letter according to the Evidence Act, noting the absence of testimony from any MASLOC official who could have compared it to an original, as well as the lack of a certified copy. Furthermore, the prosecution's claim was undermined by MASLOC's own records, which continued to demand interest payments on the investment long after the alleged refund.
The prosecution also accused Tamakloe of misappropriating over GHS2 million intended for a nationwide sensitisation programme for MASLOC loan beneficiaries. However, the Court found that the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) had not contacted any of the 85,300 beneficiaries to verify whether the programme occurred. The evidence relied on hearsay from MASLOC's Regional Directors, who did not testify in court. Additionally, several MASLOC staff interviewed by investigators had not claimed the programme was nonexistent.
In another charge, Tamakloe faced allegations of embezzling GHS579,800 from a fund for victims of the 2015 Kantamanto market fire. Yet, the Court noted that the prosecution's lead witness, Tamakloe's successor as MASLOC CEO, conceded during cross-examination that the funds had indeed reached the intended recipients. This admission was conspicuously absent from the official investigation report.
The Court further identified flaws in charges alleging Tamakloe 'wilfully caused financial loss to the state' and 'caused loss to public property.' These charges failed to detail the specific actions or decisions by Tamakloe that led to the losses, violating her constitutional right to be informed of the nature of the charges against her.
Finally, the Court found that payments to Tamakloe and her deputy, which had been approved by MASLOC's Head of Finance, were supported by appropriate documentation, and there was no evidence of deception or falsification by Tamakloe.
The collapse of the theft and financial-loss convictions also led to the dismissal of related money laundering charges, as these depended on the existence of an underlying theft. The Court did not address the appropriateness of Tamakloe's original ten-year sentence, as no convictions remained to warrant sentencing.
Justice Ankamah, in his concluding remarks, reaffirmed the principle that the burden of proving guilt lies with the prosecution and that this burden cannot shift to the accused, emphasizing that this principle is a fundamental constitutional expression of the presumption of innocence.