Quality Grain case up for hearing Friday

THE Quality Grains Company case involving five former top public officials, including two former Ministers of State in the NDC administration, has now been listed for hearing on Friday, after many postponements.

The postponements were necessitated by a suit which was filed at the Supreme Court to challenge the constitutionality of one of the charges that have been preferred against the accused persons.

Those on trial are Ibrahim Adam, a former Minister of Food and Agriculture; Samuel Dapaah, a former Chief Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture; Kwame Peprah, a former Minister of Finance; Ato Dadzie, a former Chief of Staff at the Presidency, and George Yankey, a former Director of the Legal Sector, Private and Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance.

They are said to have played various roles in the Quality Grains Company scandal that led to the loss of more than $20 million to the state.

They have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and causing financial loss to the state and the court, presided over by Mr Justice Kwame Afreh, a Supreme Court judge sitting as an additional High Court judge, has granted them self-recognisance bail.

The trial was put on hold following an action by one Mr Frank Bo Amissah, who sought the interpretation of the Constitution on the charge of causing financial loss to the state.

However, when the case was first called on March 5, counsel for the plaintiff, Nana Adjei Ampofo, told the court that his client had decided to discontinue the action for what he said was "for very personal reasons".

The Attorney General, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who was the defendant, objected and urged the court to go ahead and determine the case.

On Friday, March 14, 2003, the Supreme Court presided over by Mrs Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, went ahead to strike out the case and awarded ?15 million costs against the plaintiff. This followed a 4-1 majority decision to grant leave for the plaintiff to withdraw the suit.

The majority decision was taken by Mrs Bamford-Addo, Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, Mr Justice S. A. Brobbey and Mr Justice Sam Baddoo. Dr Justice Seth Twum dissented.

The substantive case was first sent to the Fast Track High Court on May 23, 2001, and took 19 months to prosecute.

The presiding judge then fixed February 21 for judgement, but it had to be deferred to enable counsel for the accused persons to address contentious issues they raised in their written addresses submitted to the court in early January.

A final date for judgement may be fixed by the court on Friday.

Another former public official, Tsatsu Tsikata, who used to be the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, is also facing trial at a Fast Track High Court causing financial loss of more than ?2.3 billion to the state.

He is said to have caused the loss in a transaction in which he is alleged to have committed the corporation to guarantee a loan facility granted Valley Farms Limited, a private limited liability company, by Caisse Francaise de Development (CFD), a French development aid agency.