The accused persons
Charles Puozuing, counsel for Sumalia Abdul-Rahman, former CEO of the Northern Development Authority (NDA), and three others, has filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal to dismiss the case against the accused persons, who are standing trial for alleged breaches of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663).
Sumalia Abdul-Rahman and his deputies, Stephen Yir-eru Engmen (Operation), Patrick Seidu (Finance & Administration) as well as Andrew Kuundaari (CEO of A&QS Consortium Limited) have been arraigned before the Tamale High Court presided by Eric Ansah Ankomah for alleged breaches of the Public Procurement Act.
The accused face 11 counts of procurement breaches and corruption in the award and execution of contracts for the NDA.
In an interview with DAILY GUIDE in response to the appeal filed before the Appeal Court, Charles Puozuing, Counsel for the accused persons, stated that “basically we are saying that the appeal court should acquit and discharge the accused persons.”
The judge, Eric Ansah Ankomah, was dissatisfied with the accused person’s refusal to file their witness statements and warned them that if they did not do so before or on the next sitting date, he would be forced to issue an order.
The accused persons are expected to reappear in court on June 19, 2024. The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) charged the four after investigations following a whistleblower’s alert.
The investigative report revealed that Abdul-Rahman, Engmen, Seidu, and Kuundaari influenced the procurement process to give A&QS an unfair advantage in the NDA’s procurement of consultants for the Infrastructure for Poverty (IPEP) project by increasing the approved procurement total contract sum.
It also determined that submitting invoices for the inflated contract sum was misleading.
BY Eric Kombat, Tamale