Rawlings Mentioned in Quality Grain trail
Fight over booty- Tribunal grants two bail
Rawlings Mentioned in Quality Grain trail
Accra (Greater Accra) 26 October 2001 - For the first time at the on-going Quality Grain trial Wednesday, the name of former President Jerry John Rawlings has been mentioned.
Mr Theophilus Cudjoe, Deputy Executive Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), told the Fast Track Court that during investigations, he was informed by George Sipa Yankey, the fourth accused, that ex-President Rawlings gave a note to Mrs Juliet Renee Cotton, Managing Director of Quality Grain Incorporated of USA, authorising Kwame Peprah and him (Yankey) to guarantee a loan of two-million dollars for her.
Answering questions under cross-examinations, Mr Cudjoe, the Principal Prosecution witness, said in the course of his investigations he had a hint that Mrs Cotton was in the office of Sipa Yankey at the Ministry of Finance purposely to source for the two million dollar loan.
According to witness, even though Mrs Cotton requested for the loan during an earlier meeting at the Castle, the government rejected it based on the grounds that it was not necessary.
He said based on this fact, he was surprised to have learnt that Mrs Cotton had gone to Dr Yankey seeking for the same loan which had earlier been rejected. According to Mr Cudjoe, on his arrival at the premises of the Finance Ministry, he met Mrs Cotton coming out from a lift.
He said he (witness) proceeded to Dr Yankey's office to enquire about the mission of Mrs Cotton, since to the best of his knowledge she had nothing to do with the two million dollar loan again. Witness said Mrs Cotton also entered the office, few minutes later and took a seat.
According to witness, Dr Yankey then changed the dialect to Fante and explained to him that the woman has brought a note from the President for help even though Pepreh and himself had decided that the government could not grant any more money to her.
Asked by Mr David Lamptey, counsel for Dr Yankey whether as an investigator he (witness) cross-checked this story from former President Rawlings, Mr Cudjoe answered 'No'.
Counsel then told witness that his story could not be supported by evidence, adding that the story was false.
Counsel also told the court that none of the accused persons including his client did anything wrong to be charged before the court.
He further claimed that Mr Cudjoe who is the head of the investigations, did not do proper investigations because his evidence that Mrs Cotton misappropriated part of the loan was not true.
According to counsel, Mr Cudjoe was merely making deductions from some documents he had from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) which are all fraudulent.
In a further cross-examination, Nene Amegatcher counsel for the second accused, Dr Samuel Dapaah, asked witness about his perception of Mrs Cotton.
Witness said from his investigations Ms Cotton is arrogant and rude. In witness own words, "Mrs Cotton had her feet stepping on something". According to witness Mrs Cotton "was dishonest and could talk to public servants anyhow".
Nene Amegatcher, told the court that witness decided to charge his client because he (witness) was not happy about the way his client spoke to him on telephone.
He said his client in the cause of investigations had threatened to sue Mr Cudjoe because, he (witness) had told the former Vice President Atta Mills that Dr Dapah was aiding somebody to defraud the government.
He said Mr Cudjoe also told the former Vice President that he did not make friends with anyone who helped others to cheat Ghana government. - Evening News
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Accra (Greater Accra) 26 October 2001 - An Accra Regional Tribunal on Thursday granted a 20-million-cedi bail with a surety each to a Jamaican Rasterman and a Ghanaian exporter.
This followed an application by Mr Andrew Daniels, Counsel for the two accused persons, Dean Osbourne and Ernest Oteng. They are being held on two charges of causing harm and dealing in narcotic drugs.
Granting the application, the three-member tribunal chaired by Mr Justice Charles Quist, ordered them to deposit their passports with the police and report every Monday to the police until the determination of the case.
Mr Daniels told the tribunal that since his clients were men of substance with fixed places of abode, they would not jump bail. The two accused persons were refused bail on October 22 when they were put before the Amasaman Community Tribunal.
The prosecution’s case is that on October 20 one David Addison, now on admission at the 37 Military Hospital as a result of cutlass wounds he sustained, approached Oteng for some business discussions. A quarrel ensued between them and Oteng pulled a knife on Addison.
Osbourne who happened to be at the scene had his left thumb bitten by Addison when he attempted to separate them. He also had the windscreen of his car, which was only 800 yards away, smashed by Addison who felt aggrieved.
Osbourne pulled a cutlass from his car and slashed Addison several times on both legs and left arm. The matter was reported to the police who had information that the two accused persons together with two others now at large have been exporting food items overseas with narcotic drugs concealed in them.
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