COCOBOB SUIT AGAINST OPUNI GOES SOUR -Court Withholds Motion of lies Against Opuni

An Accra High Court has thrown out an affidavit by state prosecutors in opposition to a motion of perjury filed by former COCOBOD CEO, Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni against the state’s third prosecution witness, Dr Yaw Adu-Ampomah.

In the case of the Republic vs Dr Opuni and businessman Seidu Agongo, the presiding Judge, Justice Clemence Y. Honyenuga withheld the motion filed by Opuni’s lawyers who claim that comments made by Dr Adu-Ampomah with regard to how COCOBOD conducts its procurement processes were not true.

During his evidence in chief, Dr Adu-Ampomah told the court that COCOBOD as a rule, advertises contracts in the dailies when it wants to purchase agrochemicals, including fertilisers, and states in detail via those advertisements, the type of agrochemicals required.

However, during cross-examination on 4 June 2019, Mr Codjoe challenged Dr Adu-Ampomah to that claim, forcing the witness to admit that COCOBOD often engaged in sole-sourcing too for the services.

This contradicted his earlier testimony that the state-owned cocoa company had never procured agrochemicals through sole-sourcing.

Mr Codjoe further provided evidence to prove that the witness, during his tenure as a Deputy Chief Executive in charge of Agronomy and Quality Control at COCOBOD in 2011, applied to the Public Procurement Authority to sole-source some quantum of fertiliser.

When confronted with the facts Adu-Ampomah admitted that he made purchases through sole-sourcing to the tune of US$161,692,473.26 from three companies in 2011.

Dr Opuni and Mr Agongo are facing 27 charges, including defrauding by false pretences, wilfully causing financial loss to the state, money laundering, corruption by a public officer and acting in contravention of the Public Procurement Act.

They have pleaded not guilty and have been granted a GH¢300,000.00 each self-recognisance bail by the Court.