Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba
The trial of former Chief Executive Officer of National Food and Buffer Stock Company Limited (NAFCO), Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba and his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni, has been adjourned to June 9 due to the failure of the Office of the Attorney General to file signed witness statements of the witnesses they intend to rely on for the prosecution.
The court had set yesterday, May 28, 2026 for case management after which a date would be set for the commencement of the trial.
When the case was called, Deputy Attorney General, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, told the court presided over by Justice Francis Achibonga that that the prosecution had filed all documents and that they were ready for case management conference.
However, former Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, who is lawyer for Mr. Abdul-Wahab, raised an objection to the request, indicating that the accused persons had been served with only one witness statement.
He further told the court that the other documents filed and served on the accused could not be considered as witness statements under the criminal laws of Ghana since they had neither been signed nor verified as required by the Practice Directions Disclosures and Case Management Rules.
Mr. Dame further submitted that the Practice Directions Disclosures and Case Management Rules stipulate that the prosecution must file and serve on the accused persons all witness statements and documents to be relied upon before a case management conference can be conducted.
Dr. Srem-Sai, in response to the objection said the concerns raised by Dame are not enough grounds to stall the case management conference scheduled by the court.
He said the non-signing of the witness statement would have impacted the process if the prosecution was tendering the witness statements in evidence and not at the case management stage.
He added that there is no provision in practice direction which says case management conference cannot be conducted without signing of witness statements.
The trial judge, Justice Francis Achibonga upheld the objection by Mr. Dame and stated that whilst it is true that case management conference is a process, it is not possible for it to be done without witness statements filed by the Prosecution having been signed.
According to the judge, a witness statement which has not been signed has no value and is only as good as a having no witness statement.
He further indicated that it is important that the witness statements filed by the prosecution be signed, because even if the prosecution failed to use them, under the rules, they could be tendered by the other side.
The judge noted that he had earlier ordered the prosecution to file all documents it intended to rely on.
Justice Achibonga, therefore, ruled that in the circumstances, he was unable to proceed with the case management conference and subsequently adjourned the case.
Trial
Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba and his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni are on trial for allegedly stealing and causing financial loss to the state totaling GH¢62.6 million.
The two facing a total of 20 charges, including defrauding by false pretences, stealing, willfully causing financial loss to the state, money laundering, using public office for profit, dishonestly receiving and intentionally causing financial loss to the state.
Court documents indicate that Mr. Abdul-Wahab operating under the name Sawtina Enterprise allegedly stoleGH¢50,879,210 from NAFCO by transferring it to James Tieku-Apawu, a Regional Manager of NAFCO, between February 2017 and February 2025 under the guise of making payment from the NAFCO account.
He is further accused of defrauding by false pretences by receiving GH¢734,400 from NAFCO for rent covering the period of May 2017 and May 2019 at Chain Homes at Tseado in Accra.
The Attorney General alleges that at the time Hanan took the rent allowance, the apartments were not built and he was living somewhere else.
Faiza Seidu Wuni, on the other hand, is accused of defrauding by false pretences in her capacity as the proprietor of Alqarni Enterprise by making a false representation that she had supplied foodstuff to NAFCO, causing the state agency to pay her GH¢3,342,759.08 between September 2018 and August 2019.
She is also accused of laundering the said amount by taking possession of it, knowing at the time of taking possession that the money was acquired through stealing from NAFCO.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak