The High Court in Adentan in Accra on Thursday, 19 March 2026, ordered the unfreezing of bank accounts belonging to Sesi-Edem Company Limited, delivering a decisive ruling that vindicates Gabriel Tanko Kwamigah-Atokple, founder of the company, and clarifies the limits of the Economic and Organised Crime Office’s (EOCO) investigative powers.
The ruling follows a petition filed by JG Resources Ltd, which triggered EOCO’s intervention and led to the freezing of Sesi-Edem’s accounts on 20 November 2025 and 17 December 2025. An ex parte order on 30 January 2026 subsequently confirmed the freeze.
In its decision, the Court held that EOCO acted outside its statutory mandate and abused its powers in freezing the company’s accounts, bringing clarity to a matter that had attracted considerable public attention in recent weeks.
The Court held that the dispute between Sesi-Edem and JG Resources Ltd arose from a private commercial agreement involving no fraud or money laundering.
It emphasised that the matter was purely contractual and therefore outside EOCO’s statutory remit. Consequently, EOCO’s investigation and the freezing of the company’s accounts were ultra vires and legally unsustainable.
It further observed that performance under the Sale and Purchase Agreement was ongoing and that the contractual delivery period had not yet expired. Sesi-Edem, therefore, was not in breach of contract.
The Court held that any disputes over delivery schedules are civil matters to be resolved by the civil courts.
On regulatory compliance, the Court confirmed that Sesi-Edem was fully authorised to trade in gold at the time of the transaction. The company operated under directives issued by the Ghana Gold Board during the transition to the current regulatory regime, which permitted licensed dealers to continue trading.
The Court concluded that any representations made by the company regarding its licensing status were accurate and lawful.
The Court strongly condemned EOCO for serious misconduct. The agency failed to obtain judicial approval for its freezing order of 20 November 2025 within the 14 days required by law. Instead, EOCO reissued the order on 17 December 2025 without disclosing the first order to the Court and then sought confirmation using the ex parte procedure, effectively denying Sesi-Edem the opportunity to respond.
The High Court ruled that the reissued order was invalid, making it clear that the extended freezing of the company’s accounts was unlawful and an abuse of EOCO’s powers.
The ruling underscores that private parties cannot weaponise state investigative powers to settle commercial disputes and that enforcement agencies such as EOCO must operate strictly within their legal mandate. The petition lodged by JG Resources Ltd, which set the chain of events in motion, was firmly rejected as baseless.
The High Court’s ruling follows separate orders obtained by Sesi-Edem in December 2025 from the Accra High Court to safeguard funds believed to have been fraudulently obtained from Turkish investors through a forged Sale and Purchase Agreement that misused the company’s name, with JG Resources positioned as the facilitator in whose accounts the funds were to be received.
The decision highlights Sesi-Edem’s determined legal defence of its reputation and fully vindicates both the company and its founder, Gabriel Tanko Kwamigah-Atokple, after weeks of intense public scrutiny.
The company’s case was led by Knightschild Chambers, whose legal representation proved instrumental in securing this outcome.
Below is the full judgment:
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com