Kwabena Adu-Boahene
A High Court has partially granted an application for further disclosures filed by embattled former Director-General of the National Signals Bureau (NSB), Kwabena Adu-Boahene, regarding a BWW 740d which the Attorney General says is on a database of stolen cars.
The court, presided over by Justice Eugene Nyante Nyadu, has ordered the Ghana Police Service to provide all information in their possession in respect of the vehicle with chassis number J020CM11428 to the accused person, to aid his preparation of defence in aid of fair trial.
The court, however, refused a request to order the Attorney General to provide the bill of laden, the port of entry of the vehicle and “documents evidencing circumstances under which the vehicle was cleared from the port of entry” made by his lawyer.
Mr. Adu-Boahene is before the court together with wife, Angela Adjei-Boateng and two others for allegedly stealing GH¢49.1 million from the state in a purported deal to procure a cybersecurity system for the country.
The two together with Mildred Donkor and Advantage Solutions Limited are facing 11 counts of conspiracy to commit crime, stealing, using public office for profit, money laundering and causing financial loss to the state.
Deputy Attorney General, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai had indicated that the prosecution would be leading evidence to show that Mr. Adu-Boahene did not declare his assets as required by law, and also prove that he has engaged in the purchase and importation of stolen vehicles.
Samuel Atta Akyea, counsel for Mr. Adu-Boahene, subsequently filed a motion asking for disclosure of certain documents pertaining to the said vehicle in order to “fight off” the allegations of his client dealing in stolen vehicles.
Moving the motion, he argued that the request for the bill of laden will turn on the light as to the real importer of the so-called stolen vehicle.
“The documents evidencing the port of entry of the said vehicle will not only give the court an opportunity to come to terms with how the so-called stolen vehicle was brought into the realm and how it was cleared from the port of entry,” he argued.
He added that the disclosure will help the court determine whether duty was paid at the port of entry when the vehicle was cleared.
Opposition
The application was opposed by Dr. Srem-Sai, who argued that the custom declaration form which the prosecution has already disclosed will show that the vehicle was exported and imported by Mr. Adu-Boahene, hence he should be the one in possession of the bill of laden since he couldn’t have cleared the vehicle without it.
“The bill of laden is irrelevant to the determination of the issue and secondly, neither the Attorney General, the investigators at EOCO nor the police have the bill of laden in our possession,” he argued.
Dr. Srem-Sai also debunked the existence of a police docket on Mr. Adu-Boahene and the alleged stolen car, indicating that what exists is a database of all the stolen cars and all the persons who have engaged in that exercise or activity.
New Lawyer
Meanwhile, Mildred Donkor has employed the services of a new layer after the court warned her that she would have to conduct the cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses herself if she failed to procure a lawyer.
Nutifafa Nutsukpui, the new lawyer, failed to secure an adjournment to apprise himself of the proceedings that preceded his entry into the matter.
The court held that it would be reasonably expected that the accused, who is a literate, would have apprised the lawyer of all pending processes before the court in respect of some of which she was being called upon to conduct the cross-examination.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak