Opuni case: 6th Defence Witness questions basis for charges against accused persons
Dr. Opuni and Agongo, the CEO of Agricult Ghana Limited, are on trial for allegedly engaging in illegalities in a series of fertilizer transactions which the Attorney-General (A-G) says caused a financial loss of GH¢271.3 million to the state.
A retired Deputy Director in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation at the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod), Mr. Peter Okyere Boateng has told the High Court that he does not see the basis for the charges of fraud leveled against the accused persons; Dr. Stephen Opuni and Seidu Agongo.
He noted that there is every evidence that the money was used to procure Lithovit fertilizers which were forwarded to the farmers for their use and which yielded highly, thus cannot be true that the accused persons have defrauded the state.
Dr. Opuni and Agongo, the CEO of Agricult Ghana Limited, are on trial for allegedly engaging in illegalities in a series of fertilizer transactions which the Attorney-General (A-G) says caused a financial loss of GH¢271.3 million to the state.
They were dragged to court by the A-G in March 2018 on 27 charges, including willfully causing financial loss to the state, defrauding by false pretense, contravention of procurement laws, corruption of a public officer, and money laundering.
Additionally, Mr. Boateng said that following a recommendation to the effect that the Lithovit liquid fertilizers were efficacious, COCOBOD increased its purchase from 750, 000 liters to 1,000,000 liters after the first procurement.
Also, he mentioned that a report was compiled by him to the Ghana Cocobod which contained the testimony of the efficaciousness of the fertilizer based on observation of teams dispatched to cocoa regions.
Mr. Boateng also disagreed with the testimony of Dr.Yaw Adu-Amponsah to the effect that the fertilizer was ineffective per a report by the Chemistry Department of the University of Ghana. He said that per his personal observation relative to its application, he would attest that the fertilizer is effective.
Justice Clemence Honeynuga, a Supreme Court justice sitting as an additional High Court judge noted that pursuant to Article 112(2) of the Constitution, 1992, the Chief Justice has granted him a limited time to conclude this case thus the court shall, in addition, sit on Tuesdays at 11 am for early disposal of the four-year-old case.
In view of the pending vacation, he thus adjourned to October 3, 2022, at 10 am for continuation.
