Solomon Asamoah
The trial over the alleged dissipation of state funds in the non-existent $2 million Accra Skytrain project commenced yesterday, with the Office of the Attorney General calling its first witness, Yaw Dame-Darkwa, who told the court that there was no board approval for the investment.
Solomon Asamoah, former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Infrastructural Investment Fund (GIIF), and the erstwhile Board Chairman of the Fund, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, have been charged before a High Court in Accra for their alleged involvement in an unapproved investment, which purportedly resulted in financial loss to the state.
While the first witness, Yaw Dame-Darkwa, claimed no knowledge of discussions leading to the investment, a defence lawyer challenged his attention to detail, questioning why he would append his signature to a witness statement that incorrectly spelled his name.
Evidence-in-Chief
In his witness statement, which was adopted by the court as his evidence-in-chief, Mr. Dame-Darkwa said he only became aware of the $2 million investment through the Auditor-General’s report.
He noted that, in accordance with proper procedure, a due diligence report should have been presented to the board before any approval for disbursement.
Although he admitted seeing certain GIIF board meeting minutes referencing the Skytrain project, he said the minutes did not accurately reflect the board’s deliberations or decisions concerning the project.
He further stated that the Skytrain concept was introduced at only one board meeting, and that the board did not receive any substantive proposal on the project and therefore did not deliberate or make any decision regarding it.
“To the best of my knowledge, the Skytrain project has not been tabled for consideration at any board meeting… the board did not approve any funding for the Skytrain project during the period of my service,” the witness said.
“To be specific, there was no proposal discussed at any meeting I attended regarding the disbursement of funds to the project,” he added.
Cross-Examination
During cross-examination, Dominic Brenya-Otchere, counsel for Solomon Asamoah, asked whether the witness took particular interest in the spelling of his name, to which he replied, “Yes.”
Mr. Dame-Darkwa admitted that although he had read the witness statement before signing it, his last name, a compound name, had been misspelt without a dash.
The defence lawyer then asked, “Is it the case that you don’t read documents presented to you diligently before signing?”
The witness responded in the negative.
He was further asked to mention some strategic infrastructure projects that GIIF invested in during his tenure as a board member.
“We did the Maaha Beach Resort, a hotel at Cape Three Points where Ghana Gas is. We did the Western Corridor Fibre Optic Project, the Atlantic Terminal in Takoradi, and Terminal 3 at Kotoka International Airport. These are the ones I can recall off the top of my head,” he said.
The trial has been adjourned to November 12, 2025.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak