This was made known to the Supreme Court yesterday by counsel for the MP, Yonni Kulendi.
This is in regards to a case in which his accuser, Sumaila Bielbiel, a cattle breeder, is seeking to invoke the original jurisdiction of the court to bar his continuous stay in parliament on grounds that he believes the MP is a foreigner and that the law bars foreigners from contesting elections in Ghana.
A representative from the Attorney-General’s Department Sylvester Williams as well as Sumaila confirmed to the court that they had been served.
Mr. Bielbiel said he would file his affidavit in opposition by Friday.
The Supreme Court justices were of the opinion that Mr. Williams could file his affidavit in opposition to the application filed by the MP if he so wished.
Mr. Bielbiel has been without counsel following the refusal of the judges to allow him to appear before them till the final determination of an investigation of a statement by his counsel Mr.Raymond Atuguba that judges are corrupt.
The court by a six to three majority decision at the last hearing ruled that Daramani Sakande should file his response and statement of case in an application filed by his accuser.
The presiding judge, Justice S. A. Brobbey, who read the verdict of the justices about three months ago did not give immediate reasons but said their decision would be embodied in the final judgment of the application filed by Mr. Bielbiel.
Other members of the panel were Justices Julius Ansah, R.O. Owusu, Jones Dotse, Anin Yeboah, Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, B.T. Aryeetey, A. Gbadegbe and Akoto-Bamfo.
Mr. Bielbiel after losing two applications at the Court of Appeal in a case in which the MP filed challenging his capacity to sue, turned to the Supreme Court to invoke its original jurisdiction on grounds that the Appeals’ Court decision had left him stranded with no choice than to go to the Supreme Court.
Yoni Kulendi, counsel for the MP raised a preliminary objection saying that the applicant Bielbiel cannot cease the original decision of the Court of Appeal simply because he is stranded but the Supreme Court justices believed otherwise and ordered the MP to file his response and statement of case in the matter.
Barely a week after winning a case challenging the capacity of his accuser to sue him before a High Court over an election issue, the MP floored Bielbiel when an Appeal’s Court ruled in his favour in an application he filed challenging the decision of the High Court judge who refused to allow him to open his defense.
The three justices of the Appeals’ Court in a ruling which lasted less than ten minutes said they were in agreement with the judgment delivered by their colleagues last week describing the legal action by Bielbiel as wrong in the face of the law.
By Fidelia Achama
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