"Opuni has not followed the procedures established for the award of the contract to Agricult" – Witness

General News of Thursday, July 11, 2019

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com

2019-07-11

Kwabena Opuni and Seidu Agongo, Dr. Adu-Ampomah, the third state witness in the criminal trial of the former director general of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), said that the CEO COCOBOD had not followed the contract process with Agricult.

Dr. Adu-Ampomah made this known during a cross-examination.

He clarified that Mr. Opuni did not follow the official procedure, contrary to his lawyer's claim: the awarding of contracts to Agricult Ghana Limited was in line with Ghana Cocoa Board's usual procurement practices.

Dr. Adu-Ampomah, who has extensive knowledge of COCOBOD's activities and served as Deputy Director General for Agronomy and Quality Control, told the court that COCOBOD had consulted with responsible for public procurement for all purchases of agrochemicals – fertilizer. , insecticides, pesticides and fungicides – that agrochemicals are purchased by open tender, by restricted tender or by an exclusive supplier.

However, according to him, in the event that, as CEO of COCOBOD, Mr. Opuni awarded a contract to Agricult Ghana Limited in March 2014 for the purchase of fertilizer and would not have not followed the appropriate procurement processes.

"Dr. Opuni wrote to Agricult Ghana Limited asking for an estimate of the price of 700,000 liters of Lithovit liquid fertilizer on February 25, 2014, and the next day, the 26th, when agriculture quoted $ 27.5 per liter, Then on March 5, 2014, the contract was awarded to Agricult, "said Dr. Adu-Ampomah.

The cost of supplying 700,000 liters of fertilizer was $ 19,250 million.

COCOBOD, he said, does not "sit somewhere" for companies to indicate the prices at which they want to sell their products to COCOBOD, and for them to accept and award contracts to them immediately.

Dr. Adu-Ampomah explained that what normally happens instead is that when companies submit bids, the COCOBOD tender committee is formed to review the applications. The Executive Committee is chaired by the Executive Director and includes representatives from other user departments, procurement and legal services.

After reviewing the application documents, the committee writes a report and submits it to the APP with details on the progress of the process. Upon approval of an offer by PPA, a contract is awarded for the supply of the products.

In some cases, he added, the entity auction committee is entering into negotiations with the companies to ensure that the best prices and value for money are obtained before the contracts are awarded. are awarded with the constant approval of the APP.

Dr. Opuni had no trouble awarding Agricult Ghana Limited a contract worth $ 19,250 million.

Stephen Kwabena Opuni, former director general of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and Seidu Agongo, chief executive officer of Agricult Ghana Limited, are currently on trial because of the fertilizer contract and similar contracts , amounting to USD 19.250 million.

They allegedly engaged in a financial loss of 271.3 million GH ¢ during a series of transactions involving fertilizers.

The charges against them by the Attorney General also include fraudulent fraud, money laundering, bribery of a public official and failure to comply with the Public Procurement Act.

Both men face years in prison if found guilty.