The Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund’s former CEO and board chairman, Solomon Asamoah and Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, have been ordered by the Accra High Court to present their defence in a case where they are accused of plotting to steal $2 million intended for the never-built Accra SkyTrain project.
The two accused must now submit their defence so that the court can decide whether they are guilty or innocent, according to a directive issued by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay following the dismissal of a submission of no case filed on their behalf.
The foundation of the prosecution’s case is the allegation that the GIIF board, which is in charge of the fund’s decisions, actions, and liabilities, did not approve the SkyTrain project.
Asamoah and Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi are facing six counts in all. Both have been charged with conspiracy to commit crime, including deliberately causing financial harm to the Republic. Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi and Asamoah are both charged separately with intentionally inflicting financial loss to the Republic.
The two are also charged with conspiracy to conduct crime, namely purposeful dissipation of public funds, with each again facing an individual accusation of intentional dissipation of public funds, accounting for counts five and six on the charge sheet issued by the Attorney-General.
They have pleaded not guilty to all six counts.
The prosecution, led by the Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, called three witnesses to bolster its case.
Yaw Odame-Darkwa, a former GIIF board member, informed the court that the board disapproved of the deal.
He stated that a document in which Asamoah told the board that “following the approval by the board, the sum of $2 million be invested in the SkyTrain project with GIIF as the anchor investor in return for a 10 per cent stake” was only an update and not a permission.
Kofi Boakye, a former fund board secretary, also testified in court that the board rejected the SkyTrain project.
Francis Aboagye, a National Intelligence Bureau staff officer who oversaw the inquiry, supported the first two witnesses’ statements.
Victoria Barth and Yaw Acheampong Boafo, the accused’s lawyers, had asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that the prosecution had not proven a prima facie case against their clients.
Ms Barth, for Asamoah, contended that the $2 million was an equity investment for a 10 per cent stake in the project’s Special Purpose Vehicle and not squandered funds, and that board minutes dated October 24, 2018, proved a permission that was never contemporaneously disputed.
She argued that the sequence of the transaction required the investment to come before additional due diligence, that the prosecution’s witnesses provided inconsistent testimony on what constituted board consent, and that the investigator’s conclusions were based on inference rather than fact.
Regarding the issue of financial loss, she contended that any delay in the project was due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an intervening cause that broke any connection to her client’s actions, and that the funds were transformed into an existing, recoverable asset in the form of shares, meaning there was no net, irretrievable depletion of state resources.
In a similar vein, Mr. Boafo for Ameyaw-Akumfi contended that the prosecution had not properly charged and prosecuted his client under the applicable law and that the state’s evidence had been so undermined by cross-examination that no rational tribunal could convict on it.
However, the court rejected the arguments and mandated that the defendants present their case.
Source: newsthemegh.com