The Court of Appeal has acquitted and discharged former Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Christine Tamakloe-Attionu, overturning the 10-year prison sentence imposed on her by the Accra High Court in 2024.
In the Court’s judgment delivered on Thursday, July 30, the it held that the prosecution failed to prove its case against the former MASLOC boss beyond reasonable doubt and effectively set aside all convictions entered against her by the High Court.
The judgment follows an appeal filed by her legal team, led by Enoch Deegbe, who had raised nine grounds of appeal challenging both the substance of the conviction, her trial and her sentencing in absentia.
Central to their case was the argument that the charge sheet used to prosecute her was “incurably defective” and violated Article 19(2)(d) of the 1992 Constitution, which guarantees every accused person the right to be informed in detail of the nature of the offences alleged against them.
Madam Tamakloe-Attionu served as MASLOC CEO from November 2013 to January 2017, and was arraigned before the High Court Financial Division on January 30, 2019 on 78 counts spanning conspiracy to steal, stealing, causing financial loss to the state, causing loss to public property…
She was tried in absentia after travelling to the United States in 2021 with permission of the High Court to seek medical treatment, a trip from which she did not return.
The former MASLOC boss after she was tried in absentia was later jailed in April 2024, together with Daniel Axim, a former Chief Operating Officer of MASLOC, who was sentenced to five years in prison with hard labour for causing financial loss of GH¢90 million to the state.
She was extradited and brought back into the country on June 9, 2026, where she began serving her 10-year prison sentence at the Nsawam Medium Security Female Prison on June 24, 2026.
Her acquittal by the Court of Appeal is expected to ignite a fierce political debate, particularly regarding the broader accountability framework for public officials accused of financial misconduct and misappropriation.