Court rejects Mustapha Abdul-Hamid’s adjournment plea, orders trial to resume tomorrow
The Accra High Court has rejected an open-court plea by lead counsel for former Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, seeking a long adjournment of the trial. Joseph Kpemka, lead counsel for Abdul-Hamid, had prayed the court for an adjournment on grounds of ill health, exhaustion, and the upcoming bar conference. However, the court directed the parties to return tomorrow for the continuation of the case management conference. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid and seven others are standing trial over allegations of extorting monies from players in the petroleum sector. The accused persons had previously attempted to strike out the charge sheet, but their application was dismissed by the court, paving the way for the pre-trial process to continue.