Court rejects two prosecution witness statements in Buffer Stock trial

The High Court in Accra has thrown out two witness statements filed by the prosecution in the criminal case involving former National Food and Buffer Stock Company chief executive Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba and four others.

Justice Francis Achibonga, sitting as an additional High Court judge, ruled on 29 April 2026 that the statements could not stand after the defence challenged the manner in which they were introduced.

The trial has been adjourned to 5 May 2026 for continuation.

The objection was led by Godfred Yeboah Dame, lawyer for the first accused, who argued that the prosecution had already filed statements for the same witnesses and that those earlier statements had been adopted during case management.

His complaint was that the state had now attempted to place fresh statements and new material before the court without first seeking permission.

According to him, that procedure offended the Practice Directions governing criminal trials in the High Court. He also argued that the prosecution had failed to make clear whether the new filings were intended as amendments, replacements or entirely additional statements.

Dame relied on Regulation 4 of the Practice Directions, insisting that the prosecution ought to have obtained leave of the court and shown that the material being introduced was not available, or could not reasonably have been known, when the original statements were filed.

Lawyer for the second accused, Augustine Obour, supported the objection and associated himself with the submissions made by Dame.

When the court asked the prosecution to justify the filing, state counsel Esi Yankah was unable to point to any legal basis for what had been done. Instead, the prosecution asked for time to regularise the process.

The court declined that route and struck out both witness statements.