COCOBOD GH¢271m financial loss case: No farmer drank lithovit fertiliser – Witness
A witness in the ongoing trial of Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of COCOBOD, yesterday said none of the farmers investigated said they drank lithovitfertiliser like water.
Mr Paul Adjei Gyan, Operations Directorate of the Economic and Organised Crime Organisation (EOCO), was a member of the team that investigated Dr Opuni, first accused, and Mr Seidu Agongo, Managing Director of Agricult Ghana Limited, a fertiliser manufacturing company.
The witness was answering questions under cross examination conducted by Mr Samuel Codjoe, counsel for Dr Opuni, at the Accra High Court.
It is the case of the prosecution that some farmers alleged that they drunk lithovit fertiliser, which was supplied to COCOBOD by Mr Agongo, like water.
But, Mr Codjoe suggested to the witness that EOCO did not make any adverse findings about lithovit fertiliser.
Mr Adjei told the court that per EOCO’s investigations, which was later transferred to the Ghana Police Service, one farmer said he did not get the expected yield and the other farmer said lithovit fertiliser was good.
Dr Opuni and Mr Agongo are standing trial for conspiracy to commit crime and procurement breaches in a fertiliser deal.
The trial had dragged on for more than six years. Justice Clement Jackson Honyenugah, a retired Supreme Court Judge, was the first trial judge until he went on retirement.
The case docket was later assigned to Justice Gyimah Boadi, who decided to conduct fresh trial because of what he considered as “suspicions and allegations” from the parties concerned.
Justice Boadi was subsequently, transferred and the case was assigned to Justice Aboagye Tandoh.
Before then, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godred Yeboah Dame, appealed the decision of Justice Boadi to conduct fresh trial, and later in a ruling, a three-member panel of judges overturned the decision to start the trial afresh.
In March 2018, the Attorney-General charged Dr Opuni and Agongo with 27 counts for allegedly engaging in illegalities that caused GH¢271.3 million financial loss to the state, and led to the distribution of sub-standard fertiliser to cocoa farmers.
Agongo allegedly used fraudulent means to sell sub-standard fertiliser to COCOBOD for onward distribution to cocoa farmers, while Dr Opuni is accused of facilitating the act by not allowing Agongo’s products to be tested and certified, as required by law.
The two accused persons have pleaded not guilty to all the 27 charges and are on GH¢300,000 bail each.
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
