The story of Constable Yebbi and Corporal Avalifo who stole 100 million old cedis from the NDC in 1997

In their argument, they said that "under Article 143(1) of the 1992 Constitution, a regional tribunal has jurisdiction to try such offences against the State and public interest as Parliament may by law prescribe.

The prosecution sought to resist the objection by contending that once Parliament has exercised its discretion by enacting in the Court's Act 1993 (Act 459) section 24(1) thereof that a regional tribunal has jurisdiction in all criminal matters, it follows that the tribunal was seised with jurisdiction in the matter. .

"Accordingly, if the NDC alleges that its ¢100,000,000.00 had been stolen, the members of the party who are owners, therefore, are obviously interested in ensuring that those at fault are brought to book. The very fact that the theft affects directly the members of the party does not mean that no public interest exists in the theft. As already demonstrated, and further held in R.

"'It is fallacious to say that a condition is not in the public interest, or may not be in the public interest if it is the case that a great many of those persons who constitute the public are not directly affected by it; and it is equally fallacious to say that a condition cannot be in the public interest if a great many members of the public neither know nor care anything about it,'" portions of the ruling said.

Additional information from a report published on GhanaWeb on Thursday, April 13, 2000, stated that the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision of five to nil, ruled on Wednesday, April 12, 2000, that the Greater Accra Regional Tribunal, hearing the case in which two policemen were charged with stealing 100 million old cedis belonging to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) from the residence of the Attorney-General, DrK

The objection was raised on the grounds that the money which was allegedly stolen belonged to the NDC and not to the State, nor was the case of public interest. In its ruling, which was read by Mr. Justice Acquah, the court said the High Court has jurisdiction in all criminal matters, adding that the Courts Act makes provision that the Regional Tribunals have concurrent jurisdiction with the High Court in all criminal matters.

Therefore, stealing money belonging to a political party is of public interest since members of the party have the right to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book.