Account officers charged with stealing

"I cross-checked my facts before publication," Quarcoo tells court

Ho (Volta Region) 23 July '99

Three accounts officers of the Kete-Krachi District Assembly have appeared before a Ho Circuit Tribunal charged with conspiracy to commit crime and stealing 19.5 million cedis belonging to the Assembly.

Foster Saku, Winfred Agbebianu and Felix Mawusi Kadzi, pleaded not guilty to the charges and have been granted bail to reappear on August three.

Saku is on Eight million cedis bail and a surety to be justified while Agbebianu and Kadzi are on one million cedis bail each with a surety, also to be justified.

The tribunal chaired by Major Jacob Aborbor (rtd) heard that in February 1997, Saku, the brain behind the deal and his two accomplices, conspired and stole a Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) cheque leaf from the Assembly's office.

Saku endorsed the cheque for 19.5 million cedis, which they cashed and shared among themselves.

Saku had 8.5 million cedis, Agbebianu, ten million cedis and Kadzi one million cedis respectively.

The prosecution said the accused persons were asked to refund the monies after the deal was detected at the Accountant General's Department in Accra, when they admitted responsibility for the crime.

Agbebianu and Kadzi readily obliged but Saku refunded only 1.1 million cedis out of the 8.5 million cedis.

When the case was forwarded to the Ho branch of the Criminal Investigations Division by the Attorney General's Office, Saku was apprehended and he mentioned Agbebianu and Kadzi as his accomplices.

On June 29, this year, Agbebianu and Kadzi were arrested and during interrogation they explained that they had already refunded their part of the money to Saku and therefore saw no reason for fresh charges being levelled against them.

The tribunal chairman told them that "Refunding the amount is a secondary issue in this case".

GRi../

Accra (Greater Accra) 23 July '99

Eben Quarcoo, former editor of the "Free Press", on Thursday, told a circuit court that he contacted an official of the Foreign Affairs Ministry for confirmation before he published that the government was dealing in cocaine.

Quarcoo, who was being cross-examined by the prosecution, said he did not personally do the contacting but rather sent one of his reporters to do the cross-checking on the facts available to him.

When questioned by Mr Martin Amidu, Deputy Attorney-General, as to the result of the contact and who the official was Quarcoo declined to give the name of the official.

He said the official confirmed to the reporter that Frank Benneh, a former diplomat in Geneva, Switzerland, had been arrested for dealing in drugs.

Quarcoo is charged with publishing a material that was likely to injure the reputation of the country.

The publication stated that the government was dealing in cocaine through Benneh and that it was using the proceeds to purchase arms and ammunition, which it would use to destabilise the country if it lost the 1996 general elections.

Quarcoo is jointly charged with Nana Kofi Coomson of the "Ghanaian Chronicle". They have pleaded not guilty and are on a 10 million cedi bail each.

Quarcoo said he sent another reporter to check on the same facts at the Swiss Embassy in Ghana, but the reporter came back to tell him that the officials refused to comment.

When asked to name the reporters, accused said he could not because the reporters were apprehensive of giving evidence if their names are mentioned.

At this juncture, Mr Amidu suggested to him that he did not do any cross-checking before he made the publication.

Quarcoo repeated that he did and that it is his normal journalistic practice to check facts available to him before going to print.

At this juncture, Mr Akoto Ampaw, attorney for Quarcoo, commented on a news item published in the July five to July six edition of the Chronicle, which said the President had again commented on the subject matter of the trial. This, Mr Ampaw said was prejudicial.

Mr Ampaw said he had earlier objected to similar comments made by the President, but the court overruled him.

The court, presided over by Mr Victor Ofoe, said the objection was well taken but advised counsel not to accommodate such comments outside the court as they would not change the character of the trial.

Hearing continues on Friday, July 24.

GRi../