GRi in Court Ghana 27 - 09 - 2001
Accra (Greater Accra) 27 September 2001 - Ibrahim Adam, the first accused in a case in which six persons are standing trial for conspiracy and causing financial loss to the
State, was not at post when the government guaranteed loans granted to the
Quality Grain Company.
Detective Police Inspector Stephen Kwame Adarkwa, who is attached to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), told the court that investigations did not show that there was a conspiracy between Adam and any of the remaining accused persons to wilfully cause financial loss to the state.
Inspector Adarkwa, the 17th prosecution witness, said this during cross-examination by counsel for Adam, former Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), at the Fast Track Court presided over by Mr Justice Kwame Afreh.
Witness agreed with counsel, Mr Samuel Kodjoe that his client's involvement in the company's activities was to boost rice production.
He also agreed to a suggestion that Adam was at the Ministry of Trade and Industries, when the government paid monies into the accounts of the company in the United States (US).
On trial with Adam are: Kwame Peprah, former Finance Minister, Dr Samuel Dapaah, Dr George Yankey, Nana Ato Dadzie and Kwesi Ahwoi, all former senior public officers.
They have pleaded not guilty and each of them is on a self-recognisance bail.
Inspector Adarkwa, however, disagreed with counsel that Dr Dapaah's role in the matter was official and that whatever he did was in response to recommendations contained in a feasibility report on a rice project at Aveyime in the Volta Region.
Witness said Dr Dapaah, who was then the Chief Director at MOFA, should have ensured that the loans, guaranteed by the government, would be properly utilised.
When counsel asked whether he visited the project site and saw the rice plantation, silos and millers, witness replied in the negative.
Counsel then suggested to witness that he did not investigate the case but rather took instructions to charge the accused persons.
Inspector Adarkwa disagreed and explained that he was a member of a five-member investigating team and his work covered a segment of the case.
Witness again did not agree with counsel's suggestion that the Exim Bank in the US, which granted the company loans that the government guaranteed, found that the project would be viable before it gave out the loans.
Earlier, Inspector Adarkwa tendered statements of all the accused persons as well several documents including, files on the company from the office of the President and various correspondence between the Exim Bank and the government.
Hearing continues on Thursday.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 27 September 2001 - An Accra legal practitioner has filed a writ at a High Court in Accra against the continued incarceration of Albert Hamid Odinga, a Belize national and close ally of former President Jerry Rawlings, who was arrested in June for alleged counter-intelligence activities.
Police arrested Odinga, 59, in a house close to that of former President Rawlings in a special operation.
The arrest hit the headlines when reports swept the capital that police had surrounded the house of the ex-president.
Officials of the Ministry of the Interior later said the operation was to arrest Odinga.
The writ filed by Mr Wahid Bompuori-Iddrisu on behalf of Mr Theophilus Hiametu of Accra against the Director of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to produce Odinga, said his continued incarceration is unlawful. He has been in BNI cells since his arrest on June 9.
In an affidavit in support of the writ, Mr Hiametu said Odinga was arraigned before the Osu Community Tribunal on June 10 and remanded in the custody of the BNI adding: "The numerous applications for bail have been refused by the honourable tribunal."
He was charged with communicating false reports meant to injure the reputation of the state.
The affidavit said the last time the applicant was produced in court was on June 14 and the applicant has not been tried for the offence.
Mr Hiametu said numerous attempts by counsel for Odinga to get the record of proceedings in the case have proved futile.
He added that the offence under which Odinga has been charged has been repealed and he is innocent. "It is the contention that the continued detention of the applicant
without trial is unlawful and constitutes a gross violation of civilised concepts of human rights including those embodied in the Ghana constitution and UN human rights."
Odinga came to Ghana in 1979 when former President Rawlings first came to power, but he was deported by the Limann administration.
He returned to Ghana when former President Rawlings returned to power and has remained in Ghana since then.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 27 September 2001 - An Accra Circuit Tribunal on Wednesday heard how two persons, Yaw Owusu, and Kofi Afful, both traders swerved a cement dealer and stole 4,101 bags of cement valued at 114.8 million cedis.
The two claimed they would sell the cement on commission for Mr Emmanuel Osafo, but ended up using the proceeds to build houses in their hometowns and buying a cocoa farm.
Owusu and Afful, pleading not guilty to conspiracy and stealing, were remanded in prison custody by the tribunal chaired by Mr. Imoru Ziblim to re-appear on October 8.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Patrick Sarpong said in October last year, Owusu and Afful approached Mr. Osafo and told him that they operated a cement store at Mango Line Near MaCarty Hill, Accra but had ran out of stock.
Owusu told Mr. Osafo that people had been patronising their store and that they would be able to secure him more customers if he could supply them some cement to sell for him on commission basis.
Mr Osafo, convinced by what the accused told him, began to supply them with the cement until April this year when he started experiencing shortages in sales and decided to take the stock of the agents.
He detected that 4,101 bags of cement were missing and the accused persons could not account for them.
The prosecution said during investigations police found out that the accused had used the money to build houses in their hometowns and Afful had in addition purchased a cocoa farm.
GRi../
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