GRi in Court Ghana 10
– 05 - 2001
Ex-ministers face charges over rice project scam
Jealous husband removes rival's eye
Security men charged with stealing/unlawful entry
Tribunal remands quack neurosurgeon
Ex-ministers face charges over
rice project scam
Accra (Greater Accra) 10 May 2001
Five top officials including the Finance Minister in the former
National Democratic Congress (NDC) government would next week appear before a
High Court in Accra to answer charges in connection with a 20-million dollar
rice project fraud.
They are Mr Kwame Peprah, ex-Finance Minister, Nana Ato Dadzie,
former Chief of Staff at the Presidency, Alhaji Ibrahim Adam, one time Minister
of Food and Agriculture, Dr George Sikpah-Yankey, formerly of the Finance
Ministry and Dr Samuel Dapaah, Chief Director at the Ministry of Food and
Agriculture.
Attorney General (A-G) and Minister of Justice, Nana Addo-Dankwa
Akufo-Addo told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Wednesday that the officials
would be tried
on two counts of conspiracy to cause financial loss to the state
and causing financial loss.
"We thought we could take them to court on Thursday but it
appears we will not be able to complete the necessary paper work before then.
But for sure, they will face the court latest next week," the A-G said.
Mr Peprah confirmed he has been charged and was awaiting
hearing.
"They brought the charge sheet to me and I signed. I am
sure my other colleagues too have done the same. But we don't know when we'll
go to court. We are waiting," he told the GNA in Accra.
At the centre of the fraud is Mrs Juliet Renee Cotton, a Black
American Chief
Executive of the Atlanta-based Quality Grain Company (QGC). If
convicted, the ex-officials could go to jail for a maximum of 10 years in addition
to a fine of five million cedis.
Nana Akuffo Addo said the five men were being charged because
they dealt directly with Mrs Cotton in all arrangements pertaining to the loan
guarantee and the additional money paid locally to her without finding out
about her background or track record.
They also ignored the due process required for the transactions
by not seeking Parliamentary approval for the transactions, except one, he
said.
He added that all former officials found to have played a role
in the transaction would be made to answer for their actions.
At a press conference a couple of weeks ago Nana Akuffo Addo
said the State is taking advantage of a floating charge, which was part of the
initial agreement to take over assets of the company for a possible revamping
of the project.
Nana Akuffo-Addo spoke about wrongdoing by the former government
for guaranteeing 20 million dollars to Mrs Cotton to grow rice in Ghana,
without due
process and supervision, resulting in misapplication of the
money.
The former government guaranteed the repayment of the money,
which the company borrowed from the South Trust Bank in Atlanta under a U.S.
Exim Bank facility, to undertake the project at Aveyime in the Volta Region.
Government also made additional payments locally to the company
in support of infrastructure development at the project site.
After mobilisation of equipment to the site and production of
some 4,000 bags of rice, the project stalled following reports of impropriety
by Mrs Cotton, who was also said to have put up a cantankerous attitude towards
Ghanaian officials.
She abandoned the project after reportedly using a greater
portion of the loan on expensive houses and vehicles.
A US court has fined Mrs Cotton 7.2 million dollars in a suit
filed by her uncle, Mr James Megarrh, a majority shareholder in Quality Grain
Company, who sought to take over the company.
The former NDC government has described the charges made against
the five officials as unfair, saying the affected individuals only acted as
implementers of government policy and decisions.
Former Minister of Communications, John Mahama, told journalists
recently that it was unfair to charge them with criminal offences when no
evidence of willfulness or culpability has been adduced.
He said the former government holds itself responsible for the
Aveyime rice project.
"We take collective responsibility and we will stand by our
comrades, who are being made scapegoats and objects of political
persecution," Mahama, MP Bole/Bamboi, said at the conference attended by
ex-ministers and officials of the former government last Monday.
He said while he admitted that Mrs Cotton misused the money
guaranteed for her, there was no evidence of collusion by any member of the
former government in her dealings.
Mr Mahama said the NDC Cabinet approved the transactions with
good intentions to avert the 100 million-dollar annual rice imports into the
country.
He said assets and equipment of the company, valued by the
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) at over 11 million dollars, are all in Ghana and
could be taken over by the state.
"The Aveyime land has been prepared, the people have been
resettled, electricity, water and telephone have been extended to the site and
the equipment is available and ready for rice production," he said.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 10 May 2001
Michael Soussoudis, a Consultant and Politician, was on
Wednesday granted a 30 million-cedi bail with one surety to be justified when
he appeared before an Accra circuit tribunal for the second time on charges of
possessing dangerous weapons and other military accoutrement without permit.
Soussoudis, who has pleaded not guilty, is scheduled to
re-appear on May 14.
When he first appeared on May 3, he was refused bail and
remanded in prison custody.
In his application for bail, Mr. David O. Lamptey, Counsel for
the accused argued that the police had completed their investigations and all
the weapons found were retrieved from one house.
Mr Lamptey said Soussoudis never refused to surrender to the
police and he would always be available to help in any further investigation.
He said his client has been collecting weapons since 1965 with
the last one being acquired in 1998, all of which have been licensed.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Elizabeth Allormatu told
the tribunal chaired by Mr Mohammed Nabon that on April 26, a team of policemen
from the CID
Headquarters, which searched Soussoudis' house, retrieved a
number of weapons.
They were six powergel danger explosives, 1P berreta pistol, AK
47 assault rifle with six loaded magazines, one SMG Uzi rifle with four
magazines, a biscuit card box containing three fragmentation grenades marked
10B, 11B and 6B.
Police also found three smoke grenades, each marked 1330-G890,
another grenade found concealed under a satellite dish and a quantity of
assorted ammunition and military kits.
The prosecutor said it became necessary to search Soussoudis'
house with an electric device to retrieve the hidden arms.
He said after the first search, it became necessary on April 27,
to use a metal detector to have another search.
This search turned up one macro pistol loaded with eight rounds
of ammunition, one ACP pistol loaded with six rounds of ammunition, one AK 47
bayonet and a quantity of assorted ammunition, all at the boys' quarters.
DSP Allormatu said investigation revealed that the ACP pistol
was licensed.
However, Soussoudis could not give any tangible reasons for
keeping the remaining firearms in his house without authority.
GRi…/
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Jealous husband removes rival's
eye
Tema (Greater Accra) 10 May 2001
A 33-year old man, James Obeng, who was allegedly caught
red-handed cuddling a married woman paid dearly with his left eye when the
woman's husband stabbed him in the face with a broken Guinness bottle.
Mr Obeng, whose left eye was virtually popped out is on
admission at the 37 Military Hospital, where he underwent surgery.
The assailant, Kennedy Kabu Ocansey, a driver of the Volta River
Authority, was remanded in prison custody when he appeared before a Tema
Circuit Tribunal on Tuesday.
Ocansey, who was on Police enquiry bail pleaded not guilty to
the charge of causing harm.
His counsel argued that he was provoked by the compromising
position in which he found Obeng with his wedded wife at about 21:30 hours on
April 21, at Tema Community Seven.
Obeng, who carried their weeding pictures to the court, said he
has issued several warnings to both his wife, Happy, and Obeng about their
relationship but these have fallen on deaf ears.
Mr Ringo Cass Azumah, Chairman of the tribunal, said in law if
someone catches another man and his wife in adulterous situation and inflicts
any injury, the punishment is only reduced and that he would like to see the
condition of the victim before he considers granting bail.
The tribunal adjourned to Tuesday May 22.
GRi…/
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Security men charged with
stealing/unlawful entry
Tema (Greater Accra) 10 May 2001
Two security men of Delta Security Services, a private security
company in Accra, who allegedly stole various items from a warehouse that they
were guarding on Wednesday appeared before a Tema Circuit Tribunal charged with
stealing and unlawful entry.
Lucas Dovi and Alfred Balsa pleaded not guilty to the charges
and they were remanded in custody till May 16.
Prosecuting Police Inspector Majorie Otabil told the tribunal
chaired by Mr Ringo Cass Azumah that the accused persons were detailed to keep
guard at a private warehouse at the Tema main harbour belonging to the SDV
Shipping Line.
She said on April 25, last month a supervisor of the Delta
Security Services reported to the Police that at about 04:20 hours armed
robbers entered the warehouse and stole items belonging to a number of
consignees.
They were made up of 29 pieces of lorry tyres, a big box
containing welding electrodes and another container of Yamaha motorbike spare
parts.
Inspector Otabil stated that in the course of the investigations
a witness informed the Police that Lucas had planned with him to carry out the
crime and asked him to get a tool with which to operate with.
The witness obliged with Lucas directives but when he got the
tool he intentionally kept it in his travelling bag and travelled. On his
return he heard of the crime and revealed the plot to the Police for their
arrest.
Following the revelation that the warehouse was not broken into
and that some key personalities have keys to the warehouse, Mr Azumah asked the
investigator to subpoena the concerned people to the tribunal.
GRi…/
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Tribunal remands quack
neurosurgeon
Accra (Greater Accra) 10 May 2001
An Accra Community Tribunal on Wednesday remanded in prison
custody an unemployed man who posed as a neurosurgeon at the 37 Military
Hospital and the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to gain favour from various
institutions like the UNDP.
Daniel Koku Adjogenu whose plea was not taken is charged with
defrauding by false pretences, forgery of documents, possessing forged
documents and uttering forged documents. The case is rescheduled for May 16.
Police Inspector Emmanuel Tawiah Boison told the tribunal
chaired by Mr Kwodwo Owusu that the complainant, Professor Tsikata is a Senior
Lecturer at the Economics Department of the University of Ghana, Legon.
He said the accused person posed as Mr Edem Tsikata, the son of
Professor Tsikata.
The prosecutor said Adjogenu was dismissed from the Ghana
International School where he was to take the GCE "A" Level for
presenting a false GCE O level result slip for admission.
According to the prosecutor, Professor Tsikata's son, Edem
Tsikata who is now at Massachusetts Institute of Technology studying science,
was Adjogenu's contemporary at the school where Edem was adjudged the most
brilliant student.
Inspector Boison said after Adjogenu had been dismissed, he
adopted Edem's name and told others that he is the son of Professor Tsikata.
The prosecutor said as time went on, Adjogenu added the title
"doctor" to his name and deceived the public that he is a
Neurosurgeon at 37 Military and Korle-Bu Teaching Hospitals.
He said Adjogenu managed to obtain a Ghanaian passport bearing
the name Daniel Edem Tsikata and in December last year, forged documents and
changed his profession to a physician.
Adjogenu travelled to Ethiopia for a seminar on HIV/AIDS
organised by the
United Nations, under the sponsorship of the UNDP (Ghana Office)
after he had
presented himself as a neurosurgeon championing an HIV/AIDS
cause.
Inspector Boison said when he returned from Ethiopia, he
mobilised a number
of resource persons from both the health and medical realms to
set up the Ghana
HIV/AIDS Foundation. The
board of trustees was inaugurated at the Accra
International Conference Centre on April 18 this year with him
as the executive
secretary.
The prosecutor said on May 2, Adjogenu was arrested at the
premises of one
Dr Yehuda, Israeli, whom he works for at Osu.
Inspector Boison said on interrogation, the accused admitted
having manoeuvred to get his passport altered to read physician instead of
student.
He also admitted taking the name of Edem and posing as a
neurosurgeon.
GRi…/
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