Court expects missing documents from Opuni

General News on Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Source: dailyguideafrica.com

2019-01-22

The High Court of Accra granted the Ghana Cocoa Commission (COCOBOD) two weeks after the publication of the reports of a committee set up to investigate the missing and falsified documents requested by the lawyers at the trial of its former managing director, Stephen Kwabena Opuni. the businessman, Seidu Agongo.

It was after Benson Nutsukpui, counsel for Seidu Agongo and Agricult Ghana Limited, insisted that he would need the documents to cross-examine the second Prosecution witness, Dr. Alfred Arthur.

Both are being tried by a high court in Accra for causing the state a financial loss in the amount of 217,370,289.22 GH.

The two defendants face 27 counts of indictment, including fraudulent fraud, deliberate financial loss to the state, money laundering, bribery of an official and violation of the law on public procurement.

The court, presided over by Judge Clemence Honyenugah, Judge of the Court of Appeal sitting as Deputy Judge of the High Court, ordered the Executive Director of CIRG to provide him with letters and documents at the request of the lawyer. private Benson Nutsukpui, senior counsel of Seidu Agongo.

Documents requested by the solicitor include a letter dated November 20, 2014 for the renewal of the pesticide, fertilizer and sprayer certificate from January to December 2015 and another letter dated October 21, 2014.

According to the lawyer, the letters indicate that there was a correspondence between CRIG and Agricult Company Limited according to which the Lithovit fertilizer was liquid, although the second state dependent witness , Dr. Alfred Arthur, denied the existence of such a thing.

Johanes Velpa, COCOBOD's deputy director of legal affairs, told the court that the file containing the letter of 21 October 2014 had been misclbadified or altered as the letter was not found.

He added that efforts to locate this letter had led to access to the file containing the letter, but that it was not in the file, which suggests that someone might have altered the file.

He added that COCOBOD subsequently set up a committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the non-availability of this letter.

During his court appearance yesterday, Mr. Nutsukpui asked about the progress made by the committee with respect to the difficult circumstances leading up to the missing documents suspected of being falsified.

Mr Velpa told the court that the committee had not yet completed its work, but preliminary reports suggest that it is impossible to locate the documents and to know who could have falsified them.

The lawyer insisted, however, that he would need this document to conclude his cross-examination of the second witness who had been on the dock for almost three months.

The court adjourned the case until February 6, 2019, when the committee's report was made public.

The court therefore ordered COCOBOD's lawyers to table the committee's report before the scheduled date for the next sitting.

No recertification

Meanwhile, the second Prosecution witness, Alfred Arthur, a hydrocarbon scientist at CRIG, insisted that there was no recertification of agrochemicals and sprays by CRIG in 2015 , hence the lack of recertification of the Lithovit product as suggested by the defense attorney.

It was after Benson Nutsukpui, a lawyer for Seidu Agongo and Agricult Ghana Limited, insisted that Dr. Gilbert John Anin Kwarpong, former executive director of CRIG, indicate in his remission note that there would have been recertification of agrochemicals and sprays in 2015.

"I did not see this report. What I can say is that there was no re-evaluation of chemicals or sprayers approved by COCOBOD in its day. I'm surprised you were saying that there was a rebadessment in 2014 for which a certificate was issued in 2015. I also said that the Lithovit certificate given by Dr. Amoah in 2014 does not have a certificate. was not renewed in 2015. The certificate issued by Dr. On March 21, 2015, Kwarpong is named Agricult Lithovit, a product that CRIG has never tested, "insisted the witness.