Tevie and Baffoe-Bonnie
The trial of five former board members of the National Communication Authority (NCA) under the erstwhile Mahama administration is set to begin today at an Accra High Court (Commercial Division).
The immediate past Board Chairman of the NCA, Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, together with William Mathew Tetteh Tevie, former Director General of the NCA; Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman, a former National Security Coordinator on the NCA Board and Dr Nana Owusu Ensaw, a board member, as well as a private businessman, George Derek Oppong, Director of Infraloks Development Limited, have been accused of conspiring to, and causing financial loss to the state.
They have vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
According to the prosecution, the accused persons have been charged with creating, looting and sharing a staggering $4 million among themselves under the guise of procuring a Cyber Surveillance System which they claimed were to be used for anti-terrorism activities in the country.
They are also facing 16 counts and additional charges such as conspiracy to steal, stealing, using public office for profit, money laundering, among others.
They pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail in the sum of $1 million with three sureties.
They have been further asked to submit their passports to the court’s registrar, and if any of them is to travel outside of the jurisdiction in the course of the trial, he may need permission to do so.
Preliminary investigations into the matter revealed that there was no formal contract at the NCA for the procurement of the device but a scheme by the five to siphon funds from the Commission.
Evidence also shows that the equipment, which were shipped into the country and kept in a private warehouse on the Spintex Road came with no operating software, thereby rendering them unusable.
Mr. Baffoe-Bonnie is being represented by Thaddeus Sory; Mr. Tevie is represented by Agbesi Kwadzo Dzakpasu; Dr. Ensaw is being represented by Samuel Cudjoe, while Alhaji Osman and Derek Oppong are being represented by Kojo Yankson and Osafo Buaben respectively.
At the last sitting, there was a heated debated between the presiding judge, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, the defence lawyers and the Attorney General in selecting days for the trial.
While the presiding judge preferred to hear the matter on all days of the week so as to expeditiously try the case, defence lawyers appeared clearly not satisfied with the suggestion.
The judge, after the arguments, settled on Tuesdays and Thursdays of the week for the trial.
By Gibril Abdul Razak