The lawyer for Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni, Mr Samuel Cudjoe, on Friday concluded his cross-examination of the sixth prosecution witness in the trial of the former Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), making further attempts to deflect responsibility for the award of contracts away from his client.
On the contrary, the prosecution witness remained consistent with his earlier testimony to the court that all contracts for the supply of fertilisers and other agrochemicals at COCOBOD are determined and approved by the Chief Executive and as such must be held accountable for their outcome.
When asked today whether the Procurement Manager was not responsible for contracts for the procurement of fertilisers at COCOBOD, Mr Peter Osei Amoako, the sixth prosecution witness, responded that the Procurement Manager only prepares draft documents with all relevant attachments and submits them to the Chief Executive for review and approval. The Chief Executive then appends his signature if he approves.
The witness further refuted Mr Cudjoe’s suggestion that Dr. Opuni was constrained in his actions by the advice of the technical experts at COCOBOD.
To the question that the Chief Executive is bound by the technical opinions of the experts at COCOBOD, Mr Amoako, said that while the technical experts offer their expert opinions to the Chief Executive on various matters, the responsibility lies with the Chief Executive to accept or reject the recommendations when making a final decision. He is not bound by their advice.
Throughout the weeks of cross-examining Mr Amoako, who is the Director of Finance at COCOBOD, he has had to refute several questions of this nature casting blame on various units, departments, and subsidiaries of COCOBOD, as well as, suggestions that Dr. Opuni was acting in line with reports and advice from other officers when he awarded the questionable contract to Agricult Ghana Limited for the supply of fertilisers.
In earlier cross-examinations, the lawyer for Dr. Opuni went on similar tangents, suggesting that Scientists at the Cocoa Research Institute (CRIG) were the ones at fault for apparently misleading his client. On other occasions, it was supposedly, the Head of the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED), then CODAPEC and Hi-Tech, and then it was thee Audit and Special Services who were at fault for misleading Dr. Opuni, according to Mr Samuel Cudjoe.
Issue Of Contention
Dr Opuni and Mr Seidu Agongo, the CEO of Agricult Ghana Limited, are facing charges which include defrauding by false pretences, money laundering, corruption by a public officer, acting in contravention of the Public Procurement Act and causing financial loss to the state, to the tune of GH¢271.3m.
The main issue of contention between the two sides in the trial is whether a sample of fertilizer tested by CRIG in 2013 for use by cocoa farmers was liquid or powdery.
The prosecution and its witness tell the court that the Lithovit Foliar Fertilizer tested in 2013 and subsequently recommended to COCOBOD was powdery in form and that the liquid Lithovit Foliar Fertilizer which was later procured by Dr Opuni from Agricult Ghana Limited was never tested and approved.
Conversely, the defence claims that the fertilizer in question was always liquid in form and that which was supplied by Agricult Ghana Limited was tested and approved for use.
The prosecution has also told the court that, Dr Opuni, in his time as Chief Executive of COCOBOD stopped that scientists at the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) from vigorously testing each agrochemical for use.
This directive, the prosecution argues, prevented the scientists from properly testing the fertiliser procured from Agricult Ghana Limited. As a result, it went undetected for years that the fertiliser did not contain the active ingredients in the right proportions.
The issue of the form and efficacy of the fertilizer supplied by Agricult Ghana Limited, and others, have formed the bases of the present lawsuit against Dr Stephen Opuni and Mr Seidu Agongo.
Cross-examination of Mr Peter Osei Amoako by the lawyer for Mr Seidu Agongo will start on 30th November
