Witness in Opuni trial says he's not aware of certificates on Lithovit fertilizer

Mr Paul Adjei Gyang, a senior EOCO official, has said that during his investigations into the Lithovit fertilizer tests, he found no certificates issued on them.

He told an Accra High Court hearing the trial of Dr Stephen Opuni, COCOBOD’s former chief executive officer and Seidu Agongo; a businessman, that he was shown a copy of the certificates while in court.

Mr Gyang, a subpoenaed witness for Mr Agongo, was answering questions in a further cross-examination led by Mrs Evelyn Keelson, Chief State Attorney.

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

They have both pleaded not guilty to the charges and are on a GH¢300,000.00 self-recognizance bail each.

The witness confirmed that the office was unable to investigate several of the issues raised by Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) staff because EOCO was taken off the investigation.

He reiterated that the statement made by COCOBOD’s procurement department staff addressed the general procurement processes.

Mr Gyang said that EOCO had no opportunity to investigate the specific issues on Lithovit during the process.

He said the investigative team requested that procurement documents be reviewed and that while certain records had been brought, others remained outstanding.

During the process, they received the directive to hand over the docket and investigations to Ghana Police.

“So, we did not have the opportunity to analyze the issues in the documents,” he added.

The case was adjourned to March 12, 2024. Dr Francis Baah, a former employee of CRIG will testify at the adjourned date.