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General News on Monday, November 26, 2018
Source: kessbenfm.com
2018-11-26
Ghana Cocoa Council
It appeared that the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), under the direction of its current director, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, had purchased some 100,000 bags of an untested fertilizer called "Cocoa Nti" of a value of 3.5 million US dollars, with the aid of a fake scientific report. controversy in the ongoing trial of Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni and Alhaji Seidu Agongo.
The counterfeit scientific report generated by Mr. Alfred Arthur, one of the Principal Attorney General's witnesses in the case of Mr. Opuni, former boss of COCOBOD, led to an investigation in 2016, in which the pedologist was suspended for forgery and falsified. the Ghana Cocoa Research Institute (CRIG) for trying to prevent its superiors from certifying and acquiring untested fertilizer.
But less than a year after the investigation, suspension and ban, COCOBOD's current management used Dr. Arthur's same scientific report on granular fertilizer & # 39; Cocoa Nti & # 39; provided by Enepa Ventures Ltd based in Kumasi to buy the agrochemical product. at a price of 3.5 million US dollars.
The "Cocoa Nti" fertilizer manufactured by the OCP group based in Morocco has not been subjected to the test procedure required by the CRIG.
It is interesting to note that the use of an untested fertilizer is part of the charges brought against Dr. Opuni and businessman Alhaji Agongo and his farm by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo.
The website of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) confirmed that COCOBOD had awarded the contract of 100,000 bags of fertilizer "Cocoa Nti" on May 10, 2018, under contract.
The contract was awarded to the court last Thursday during the cross-examination of Dr. Alfred Arthur by Dr. Opuni's lawyer, Samuel Cudjoe, who had asked Dr. Arthur when he knew COCOBOD, had ordered the drug. purchase of 100,000 bags of cocoa. Nti fertilizers are worth $ 3.5 million, but Dr. Arthur said he would not know.
Mr. Arthur, lawyer Cudjoe, also asked if he knew that the APP had a website on which any fertilizer purchase from COCOBOD was published, but the witness stated that he was not aware of this information.
Mr. Cudjoe told the witness that, on the APP's website, there was mention of a contract to purchase 100,000 Cocoa Nti fertilizer bags in subcontracting. but the scientist insisted that he was not aware of this information.
An investigation report dated November 21 and submitted to the court presided over by Judge Clemence Honyenugah, Judge at the Court of Appeal, sitting as a judge in the High Court, revealed that Dr. Arthur had traveled with local suppliers of & # 39; Cocoa Nti & # 39; in 2013 granular fertilizer; Enepa Ventures Ltd visited the product manufacturers based in Morocco and on its return, it quickly prepared a report on the product without performing a scientific test.
COCOBOD discovered Mr. Arthur's secret trip to Morocco with suppliers. In 2016, he quickly submitted the false scientific report to COCOBOD, in which he declared "Cocoa Nti Granular fertilizer. It was after Enepa Ventures had formally asked COCOBOD to certify and authorize the product.
Alarmed by the record time in which the test report approving the "Cocoa Nti Granular" fertilizer was submitted, COCOBOD opened an investigation and it was discovered that the report had been falsified by Dr. Arthur after his secret trip to Morocco . He was therefore suspended and banned from the CRIG for what the then Executive Director, Dr. G.J Anim-Kwapong, described as unethical behavior by scientists at the research institution.
It is interesting to note, however, that during the change of government in 2017, COCOBOD's new leadership, consisting of some retired officers, including Dr. Franklin Manu Amoah and Dr. Yaw Adu-Ampomah, recalled by the Akufo-Addo government, the suspension also reversed a key recommendation that Dr. Arthur should not set foot in CRIG because of the forgery.
Counter-examined by Dr. Opuni's lawyer, Samuel Cudjoe, the soil scientist admitted to being examined and dismissed from the CRIG after being indicted. It has been proven that he went to the Kingdom of Morocco with the promoters of & # 39; Cocoa Nti, granular fertilizer, without the knowledge and without the permission of his superiors of CRIG and COCOBOD.
Dr. Opuni's lead counsel had previously told the court that the reason COCOBOD had instructed CRIG was that, even though the Cocoa Nti granular fertilizer had been submitted to COCOBOD in 2016, Dr. Arthur had alleged that he had been tested and that he was the author. a scientific report on it three years ago.
The findings of the CRIG Discipline Committee, according to Mr. Cudjoe, indicated that the CRIG had not done any work of this type as an institution, adding that Mr. Arthur had forged the said scientific report.
Dr. Arthur confirmed that he was suspended in accordance with the committee's recommendations, but he could not speak to the contents of his report because he had not seen it.
However, Mr. Cudjoe baderted that, even if Mr. Arthur stated that he had never had the opportunity to see the Committee's findings, at least, when he appeared before him, he was informed that He was currently under investigation for claiming to have tested cocoa. Nti granular fertilizer in 2013, when COCOBOD officially submitted an application in March 2016.
In the meantime, the Accra High Court ordered the Executive Director of CRIG to provide him with six documents outlining Dr. Arthur's conduct, the investigation and his subsequent suspension from the CRIG before November 30, 2018 to ensure a fast trial in the Lithovit Foliar fertilizer saga. .
Dr. Opuni's lawyer and Alhaji Agongo's lawyer, Benson Nutsukpi, requested the following documents:
A letter entitled CRG 39 / 14Vol22 / 6450 of November 21, 2016,
A letter with reference number DCE / AQC / FR / AMC / 20 dated 26 October 2016 3. A letter with the reference number DCE / A & QC / FR / AMG / 23 of 16 November 2016
4. The request addressed to Dr. Alfred Arthur and his response to the said petition concerning Cocoa Ntifertilizer
5. A report on the tests conducted by CTCM on Cocoa Nti dated November 21, 2016 and a photocopy of the payment of Cocoa Ntifertilizer's invoice dated November 21, 2016.
6. The report of the commission chaired by the Reverend p. Oddoye (PhD) in Cocoa Nti fertilizer survey
Earlier in the hearing, Mr. Sam Cudjoe once again charged the Prosecutor's second Prosecution witness in the Opuni-Agongo GHS271 million fertilizer trial with lying.
During cross-examination, Mr. Cudjoe accused Dr. Alfred Arthur of lying to the police in his statement leading to his detention.
Below are excerpts from the cross-examination of Dr. Arthur by Mr. Cudjoe:
Q. I think you are aware of the purchases. A. Yes
Q. If you know the purchases, please note that COCOBOD has an A purchasing unit. Yes
Q. You also know that the Purchasing Department, in conjunction with the High Tech Unit, determines the amount of fertilizer to be purchased by COCOBOD A. I would not know that
Q. I suggest to you that it is the purchasing department as well as the high tech unit that provides the amount of fertilizer to buy. A. I am not aware of this information
Q. In fact, the two units physically saw samples of all the fertilizers that they intend to buy A. I would not know that
Q. Because they have seen the fertilizers, they all know that Lithovit is liquid, so they prepare all contracts for the purchase of Lithovit. A. I am not aware
Q. I'm telling you that during one of your interrogations at the police station, you were arrested for lying again to the police.
A. No. What happened is that I was invited to CID headquarters on January 16, 2018. I was asked to be there before 10 am. When I arrived, I was asked to wait to meet the director. I met her around 3 pm After several hours of questioning, they said that they needed some information that I told them that they were in the office computer. It was around 17 hours. Then she said it was late, so they can not come to Tafo with me, so they have to keep me and come with me the next day. They kept me at the East Legon Police Station. We went to Tafo on the 17th. They took my laptop, the desktop and asked me to go to the station on January 18th, 2018. Once there, they brought the 2 computers at the police and cybercrime unit. The agents who did an badysis there retrieved information about the Lithovit foliar fertilizer, after which my computers were handed over.
This is not the first time that Mr. Cudjoe has been trying to discredit Mr. Arthur.
Previously, he had accused the witness of lying in court under oath.
On Thursday, November 22, 2018, Mr. Cudjoe told the court that Dr. Arthur was arrested in January of this year by police for lying to him during his statement on the Lithovit Foliar Fertilizer.
But Dr. Arthur, in his defense, said that even if he was detained, it was not for spreading lies.
On Wednesday, November 14, 2018, Mr. Cudjoe discredited Dr. Arthur with a 2016 investigation report, which had suspended him for falsifying a scientific report on a granular fertilizer called "Cocoa Nti", so that He scams his senior officers in order to certify him and buy it from the supplier.
Lawyer Benson Nutsukpui, Seidu Agongo's lawyer, continues his cross-examination of Dr. Arthur, today Monday, November 26.
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