High Court Dismisses AG’s Bid to Revoke Hanan Abdul-Wahab’s Medical Travel Permission

An Accra High Court has struck out an application by the Attorney-General’s Department seeking to revoke permission granted to former National Buffer Stock Company Chief Executive Officer, Hanan Abdul-Wahab, to travel to London for medical treatment.

The court ruled that the application had become moot, noting that the travel authorisation issued on July 4 had already expired on July 12, leaving no valid order to revoke.

Mr Abdul-Wahab was earlier arrested at the Kotoka International Airport after prosecutors alleged he had breached aspects of his bail conditions while attempting to travel abroad.

Reacting to the ruling, his lead counsel and former Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, criticised the conduct of the State, accusing prosecutors of deliberately frustrating the implementation of the court’s original order.

“I think first and foremost, the conduct of the State must really be emphasised. I’m quite surprised that the State will actually behave in this way, conduct itself in a way just to violate a citizen of Ghana in this manner,” Mr Dame said.

He argued that his client was denied the opportunity to benefit from the court-approved medical trip after being detained for four days.

According to Mr Dame, the Attorney-General’s Department only sought to revoke the travel permission after it had already expired, rendering the application legally untenable.

“They prevented the court order from being obeyed by arresting him and detaining him for the period that you all know—four days and four nights—and then deliberately filed a motion and pursued it until after the lapse of the order,” he stated.

The former Attorney-General maintained that the State’s application was incompetent because the court order had ceased to exist.

“I’m surprised that the Deputy Attorney-General will come to court seeking to revoke an order which has lapsed. Clearly, that application was incompetent and could not be granted because the order had lapsed,” he argued.

Mr Dame further alleged that investigators intentionally caused the travel authorisation to expire by preventing his client from leaving the country.

“They orchestrated the lapse of the order because they arrested him, put him in their cells and seized his passport, preventing him from travelling,” he claimed.

With the court striking out the Attorney-General’s application, the attempt to revoke the medical travel permission has come to an end. However, disagreements between the prosecution and the defence over Mr Abdul-Wahab’s bail conditions, his travel request, and the continued retention of his passport and other personal belongings remain unresolved.

Yaw Opoku Amoako

See Full Bio