The trial of two housemaids of former Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah, and five others has been adjourned to March 8, 2023.
A High Court in Accra was literally forced to adjourn the case as neither the prosecution nor defence lawyers were in court when the case was called.
The lawyers arrived later after the court had already adjourned the matter to March 8, for Case Management Conference.
It is worth noting that all the seven accused persons are still in police custody in spite of being granted bail by the court, as none of them has been been able to meet the terms of the bail.
Patience Botwe and SarahAgyei, the two housemaids of the former minister, have been charged for conspiring and stealing a total of $410,000, €300,000 and GH¢350,000 from their former employers, leading to Madam Dapaah resigning from her position following public outcry.
Benjamin Sowah, Malik Dauda, Christiana Achab, Job Pomary and Yahaya Sumaila, are facing charges of dishonestly receiving a total of GH¢4,010,000 and $14,000 from the housemaids.
The Office of the Attorney General, on January 16 filed witness statements and exhibits of the witnesses they would be calling at trial and the court had scheduled yesterday for case management.
Justice Marie-Louise Simmons, the trial judge, on January 16, urned down a request by the prosecution for the accused persons to be transferred from police custody into prison custody.
All the seven accused persons were granted bail but none has been able to execute the terms, and are therefore, still in police custody.
Nana Ama Prempeh, a Senior State Attorney, had requested the court to move the accused into prison custody since they have not been able to execute the bail terms, indicating that it was becoming difficult for officers to send them to court.
The plea was objected to by defence lawyers who indicated that their clients are on the verge of meeting the bail conditions, hence remanding them into prison custody would complicate things for them.
Justice Simmons turned down the plea and ruled that the accused should remain in police custody, especially when their lawyers have indicated that they are working on executing the bail terms.
Sarah Agyei is again accused of stealing assorted jewelries totaling $95,000 belonging to the former minister, bringing the total to $505,000 cash and property stolen from the former minister and her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffuor.
All the seven have also been charged for laundering the various sums of monies which they used in purchasing properties knowing that the monies were proceeds of crime.
They were all granted a bail of GH¢750,000 each with two sureties each, one of whom must be justified with a landed property.
One of the sureties each, according to the court, must be resident in the Greater Accra Region and must be gainfully employed.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak