Skytrain trial: Ex-GIIF board member insists “no approval” for $2m

A former board member of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), Yaw Odame-Darkwa, has again told the court that the GIIF board never approved the $2 million investment linked to the Accra Skytrain project.

The issue came up on Monday, 9 February 2026, during cross-examination, after a defence lawyer pointed to a document suggesting the board had approved the deal.

Solomon Asamoah, former GIIF CEO, and Prof Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, a former GIIF board chairman, are facing accusations of conspiring to cause the state a financial loss of $2 million over a skytrain system that was never built.

Lawyers for Prof Ameyaw-Akumfi, led by Yaw Acheampong Boafo, questioned Odame-Darkwa about a sentence in a document that said the CEO had informed the board that, following board approval, $2 million would be invested in the Skytrain project, with GIIF expected to get a 10% stake as anchor investor.

The defence argument was straightforward: the Finance Department would not release $2 million without the right paperwork and proper board authorisation.

Odame-Darkwa rejected that, saying the sentence did not amount to board approval.

He told the court it was only the CEO giving an update on the project at a time when, according to him, the matter was still with the investment committee.

The defence also referred to a separate document, suggesting it showed a six-company consortium was responsible for financing the Skytrain project.

But the witness said that was not the kind of document a board would rely on to approve an investment. He explained that the board uses investment memos to make decisions, and described the “questions and answers” document as something the board prepared after media reports to clarify issues publicly.

Odame-Darkwa has now been discharged as a witness. The next prosecution witness is expected to testify on Wednesday, 11 February 2026.