I did not have any intention to defraud any official - Selormey
Mallam Isa closes case, counsel to address court on July 12
Accra (Greater Accra) 11 July 2001
Former Deputy Minister of Finance, Victor Selormey on Tuesday told a Fast Track High Court in Accra that his signature on a letter authorising ECOBANK to transfer money to Leebda was not meant to defraud the bank.
Selormey, who is facing trial in connection with the courts computerisation project, said the letter, which bore his name and regular signature emanated from his office.
Led in evidence by his counsel, Mr Barima Manu the accused said he did not deceive any government officials to get their consent in the project. He said there was a contract on which basis payment was made.
Selormey is charged with conspiring with Dr Frederick Owusu Boadu, a Ghanaian consultant in the United States, to fraudulently cause the loss of 1.3 million dollars to the state and defrauding by false pretences.
He has pleaded not guilty and is on a 1.5 billion-cedi bail, with two sureties to be justified.
The court is presided over by Justice Sam G. Baddoo, an Appeal Court Judge sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court Judge.
Selormey said he discussed the contract agreement with three officials including Mr Kwame Peprah, former Finance Minister and Mr. Dan Abodakpi, former Trade and Industry Minister.
Selormey said after discussions, they asked him to proceed with matters relating to the contract whose sum was 1.1 million dollars.
According to him, the meeting agreed on all the terms in the contract, which included the materials that were to be digitised.
The materials, he said, included the law report of Ghana from 1957, the statutes of Ghana, laws of the Gold Coast and the indexes that came within.
He said Leebda came to produce 1,000 copies of CD roms. In addition they were to purchase some desktop and laptop computers on which it was to install the CD rooms.
Selormey said in the agreement Leebda was to train judges, staff of the courts, Attorney General's Department and others who were to use the equipment.
Accused said after the agreement, an inception report was submitted at the same time in which he suggested that more utilisation should be done, rather than the purchase of computers which could not be undertaken by the government.
Based on that suggestion, he said, the meeting decided on the amendment of the original agreement.
" A letter was subsequently sent to us by Leebda, which captured the changes to be made to complete the contract."
Selormey said the changes or amendments were to do away with the purchase of computers, the training component and the digitalisation of all reports from 1957 to 1991. These included all constitutions of the Republic of Ghana, West Africa Law Reports, executive instruments, legislative instruments, decrees and all ordinances.
He said all these were done and the work was completed in 1999 and demonstrated to him, some members of the Judicial Service, the Council for Law Reporting and the Attorney General's Department, including the present Attorney General.
Selormey said the delay of the installation of the programme was due to the fact that the Government of Ghana could not provide the computers.
He said at the time that he was leaving office, negotiations with him, the Attorney General and Leebda had been concluded, and the Attorney General's Department was to provide the computers for Leebda to do the installation.
He said he kept files on the contract and though he did not write letters, he issued instructions to his officers who drafted letters for his review before they were typed and returned for his signature.
Selormey said the despatch of letters remained the responsibility of his staff.
He said he heard that he was wanted to answer some allegations against him, including the case before court, through communication with his wife. He, therefore, decided to travel back home because he had done nothing evil.
The former deputy minister said the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) arrested him on his arrival and after spending a night in cells he was interrogated by a panel of three, made up of BNI personnel in the presence of his counsel.
He said he explained the nature of the project and was released.
On a subsequent visit to the BNI, he was directed to the Commissioner of Police CID, who informed him that he was to face a panel, chaired by Mr Sam Awotwe, which also interrogated him on the matter.
Answering questions under cross-examination by Mr. Osafo Sampong, Director of Public Prosecution, Selormey listed some of the companies that he has ever worked with.
These include Raapsholb, State Enterprises Commission, Ministry of Finance and secondment to the Office of the President and the Ministry of Trade.
He said he knew Dr Frederick Owusu Boadu during their school days at Cape Coast. Dr. Boadu attended Mfantsipim while he attended St. Augustine College.
He said after college, he did not meet Dr. Boadu again until 1993 when he led a government delegation sponsored by the United States to the Caribbean, Mexico and the US.
He said the trip also took him to College Station in Texas and it was there that they interacted with members of the Faculty of Agriculture where Dr. Boadu is an Associate Professor. They did not discuss any business.
Selormey said he has two children who went to the US in 1996. While looking for accommodation, they lodged with Dr. Boadu for one month, after which they moved into their rented premises.
He said the girl completed Senior Secondary School and the boy completed the Ordinary Level. He did the final 12th Grade before entering Stelman College in Atlanta in the US and the other child went to University of Texas in Boston.
He said he pays their fees with the support of his wife.
The accused said though he could not recollect how much he pays for his children's fees, on the average he spends about 32,000 dollars per year for their tuition and accommodation.
When asked who signed the contract, Selormey said he signed for Ghana and Dr. Boadu signed for Leebda Corporation Limited.
He agreed with the prosecution that there were no witnesses to the signed contract saying that Mr Abodakpi was to witness for Ghana, but he was absent during the signing stage.
Selormey disagreed with the prosecution that Leebda did not provide any service to Ghana on the Court Computerisation Project, saying Leebda provided the CD roms and was waiting to install them but the computers were not ready.
Selormey agreed with the prosecution that Dr Boadu is the President of Leebda Corporation and that he authorised payment of 432,000 dollars to Dr Boadu.
He said copies of his letters to the ECOBANK, did not go to the Auditor-General's Department and the Controller and Accountant-General's Department.
He said it is not in all cases that the Controller and Accountant-General's Department is to know how government money is disbursed.
Selormey explained that it is only when a primary account which is at the Bank Of Ghana (BOG) is assessed that the Controller and Accountant-General's
Department would effect payment.
Explaining the primary account to the court, he said in the case of the Trade and Investment Programme (TIP), the original sum made available by the US government is kept by BOG and the TIP interest account is earnings on investment made by government through the TIP.
Selormey said for the interest account, it is the Auditor-General's Department that should know.
He recounted the pressure environment under which he worked at his office and said it was not in all cases that letters from his office bore reference numbers and sometimes, even dates, and added that these were some of the administrative lapses.
He agreed with the prosecution that there were financial decrees regulating, in part, the total award of contract, which he as a Deputy Finance Minister did not have the mandate to sign.
He disagreed that he intentionally by bypassed the authorities to write letters to ECOBANK for payments. When the prosecution suggested to Selormey that the CD roms had nothing to do with this case, he said they provided evidence that there was a contract. Hearing was adjourned to Thursday, July 12 for re-examination.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 11 July 2001
Mr Ambrose Dery, Defence Counsel for Mallam Ali Yussif Isa, former Youth and Sports Minister, who is charged with causing financial loss of 46,000 dollars to the state, on Tuesday closed his case after calling one witness.
Counsel will therefore address the Fast Track Court on Thursday, July 12.
Counsel had prayed the court to grant him a week's adjournment to enable him to adequately prepare his address, but his request was turned down by the court presided over by Justice Julius Ansah, an Appeal Court Judge sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court Judge.
The court said counsel's request for a long adjournment was not necessary and was calculated to delay proceedings.
Mallam Isa who is additionally charged with stealing has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is on a 500 million- cedi bail, with a surety to be justified.
The prosecution, led by Mr Osafo Sampong, Director of Public Prosecutions, called 10 witnesses.
Answering further questions under cross-examination, Mallam Isa told the court that he did not pass through his house before finally travelling to the Sudan. He said the Chief Director never questioned him about the missing money.
Defence witness, Mr Musah Alhassan Mahama, a building contractor, told the court that he has known the former minister as a friend.
He said he went to the office of the former minister on three occasions. He first went there to congratulate him on his appointment and went for the second time to see if Isa could assist him to get a contract.
Mr. Alhassan said on February 23, he made his third visit to the former minister's office at a time that he was about to travel to the Sudan.
He said he did not know that the former minister was travelling on that day until he went to his office.
Witness said at the office, he saw the green suitcase on his table. He denied that Mallam Isa told him to take the money from the suitcase.
He said he did not open the suitcase and he did not remove anything from it. Mr Alhassan said when he went to the office he saw Mr Wolarnyo Agrah and Alex Asante.
Mr Alhassan said he accompanied Mallam Isa to the airport in the minister's car, driven by his driver in the company of his bodyguard.
GRi…/
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 11 July 2001
Eight chiefs and elders of the four royal gates of the Nsoatre Traditional Area, believed to be the main protagonists in the area's chieftaincy dispute were on Tuesday bonded to be of good behaviour by a Sunyani Circuit Court.
They will pay a fine of 10 million cedis each or serve a prison term if they violate the bond.
The eight were arraigned at the court on Tuesday following their arrest on Sunday and Monday after a shooting incident in the town on Sunday involving their supporters.
They are Nana Nti Awere, Abusua Panyin of the Twabiri Royal Family, Nana Akwasi Asante of Abuom Royal Family and Mr Charles Emmanuel Osei, alias Kwabena Mfum, also of Abuom.
The rest are Nana Dwaa, Abusua Panyin of Abuom Royal Family, Paul Badu, Abusua Panyin of Nsesreso Royal Family, Nana Ohene Afoakwa, elder, Nsesreso Family and Frank Antwi.
Requesting the court for their bonding, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Alex Yartey-Tawiah said all the eight are from Nsoatre and leading members of the four royal families.
He said the area has been plunged into a violent chieftaincy dispute as a result of disagreements over the successor to the Omanhene of the area Nana Kwasi Henie who died in April last year.
ASP Yartey-Tawiah said three persons were shot dead on March 5 during the installation of Professor Oppong Boachie, Director of the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine, Mampong-Akwapim as Omanhene following a riot by the Twabiri faction.
He said the Twabiri Royal Family also installed a rival chief, Nana Kwame Nti on May 28, despite the fact that the dispute was pending before the Regional House of Chiefs.
Nana Nti was to be out-doored last Monday but on the eve of the ceremony, police had a tip off that leaders of the factions were distributing guns and ammunition to their supporters resulting in the indiscriminate firing.
The police arrested the leaders to avoid a possible bloodbath. Counsel for the eight opposed the request for bonding by the prosecution, but the Judge, Mr Erasmus Gyinae, held that there was likely to be breach of the peace, which could lead to further loss of lives and property if the respondents were not bonded.
GRi../
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