James Gyakye Quayson, the injuncted Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North, has filed an application asking the High Court to dismiss some of the accusations leveled against him.
Mr Quayson has pleaded not guilty to five counts of deception of a public officer, forgery of a passport or travel certificate, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury, and false declaration for office in connection with the allegation that he knew he had dual citizenship when he filed to run for parliament in 2020.
He is free on bail of GH100,000 with one surety.
Three of the five allegations — fabrication of a passport or travel document, perjury, and false statement for office — are being challenged by the MP.
Suspension of the proceedings
Tsatsu Tsikata, Mr Quayson's lead attorney, told the court yesterday that his client has also filed an appeal for a stay of proceedings with the Court of Appeal to put the trial on hold.
Justice Mary Maame Ekue Nsenkyire, the presiding judge, ruled that filing a stay of proceedings motion with the Court of Appeal did not automatically put the trial on pause.
As a result, she decided that the trial will go on and deferred the case until June 1 to hear the motion to dismiss the three counts and set a trial date.
According to the prosecution's facts, Mr Quayson was charged with the crimes after a complaint from instructor Richard Takyi-Mensah and subsequent police investigations.
Mr Quayson sought for a Ghanaian passport on July 26, 2019, according to the prosecution, and said on the application form that he did not hold dual citizenship.
"At the time, the accused had Canadian citizenship, which had been granted on October 30, 2016, but he forgot to indicate it on the application form." On July 29, 2019, the accused person's passport application was approved.
"On August 2, 2019, he was given a Ghanaian passport based on this false statement and the other information supplied by the accused individual on the passport application form," the prosecution stated. Mr Quayson picked up nomination paperwork from the Electoral Commission (EC) in October 2020 to run for the Assin North parliamentary seat, but neglected to mention that he held dual citizenship, according to the prosecution.
"On November 26, 2020, Mr Quayson was awarded a renunciation certificate of his Canadian citizenship, around 48 days after he submitted the fraudulent statutory statement and completed his nomination documents," according to the prosecution.