Attempt to stop the trial of Opuni fails

General News of Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com

2019-03-19

A high court in Accra dismissed a request to suspend the trial of former Ghana Cocoa Board CEO (COCOBOD), Dr. Stephen Opuni.

The motion filed by Benson Nutsukpui, Seidu Agongo's attorney, accused with the former president of COCOBOD of causing a financial loss to the state, was asking the court to stay the proceedings. rule pending the decision of an interlocutory appeal to the Court of Appeal. .

The appeal seeks to challenge the decision of trial judge, Judge Clemence Honyenugah, to reject a document that counsel intended to present as evidence through the state's second witness on February 25, 2019.

The document is a report from an ad hoc committee set up by the Cocoa Research Institute Ghana (CRIG) to review some of the missing documents regarding the Lithovit fertilizer that is at the center of the trial.

Moving his request for a stay of proceedings pending the decision on the interlocutory appeal, Mr. Nutsukpui stated that the second Prosecution witness, Mr. Alfred Arthur, was precise in his answers, stating that Lithovit liquid fertilizer was unknown to CRIG.

According to him, he sought to confront the witness with official documentary evidence from the official guard of the CRIG.

He added that the decision of the judge who refused to hand over the document would de facto deprive the defendants of their constitutional right to a fair trial, guaranteed by article 19 of the 1992 Constitution.

Mr. Nutsukpui argued that the judge's decision that the lawyer should have asked the court to summon the authors of the report closes the door on the right of the accused to present no case.

This, he said, suggests that even before the prosecution closed its case, the defendants opened their case and summoned a witness.

According to the lawyer, the second exceptional circumstance in which the proceedings should be stayed is that the court did not follow the binding decision of Yeboah vrs Amofa reported in 1997/98 – a report from Ghana on which the judge it's founded.

Again, Mr. Nutsukpui argued that the fact that the CRIG Committee was not constituted influenced the court, but that does not take away the nature of the document as an official document.

Although Dr. Opuni's lawyer, Samuel Codjoe, did not file any petition, he told the court that he agreed with Mr. Nutsukpui's arguments.

Opposition

The state represented by Stella Ohene Appiah objected to the motion to stay the proceedings as a calculated attempt by counsel to delay the proceedings.

She told the court that granting the stay of proceedings pending appeal was discretionary and not justified by the fact that an appeal had been made.

She added that in the unlikely event that the appeal would be allowed, the applicants would not suffer any prejudice if the case was not suspended.

Dismissal

The trial judge, Judge Clemence Honyenugah, a judge at the Court of Appeal, dismissed the application, stating that a notice of appeal was not a sufficient ground to stay the proceedings.

He added that suspending the proceedings would only delay the proceedings further, as the PW2 has been in the box for almost five months.

The hearing is continuing on March 27, 2019.