Daniel Duku
An Accra High Court has rejected an agreement between the Attorney General’s (AG’s) Department and the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF), Daniel Duku, in the erstwhile Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration to refund money stolen from the state.
The trial judge, Justice Anthony Oppong, a Court of Appeal judge sitting as an additional High Court judge, said having looked at the terms of the agreement, the court is not impressed with the arrangement, especially when the accused person is supposed to pay the money in tranches and not at a go.
Trial
Mr. Duku, together with six accused persons, including former Member of Parliament (MP) for Keta, is standing trial for allegedly misappropriating funds in excess of GH¢42 million belonging to the VCTF, a state agency.
The other four are Irene Anti Mensah, an investment officer of VCTF, who doubled as executive assistant to Mr. Duku; Frank Aboagye Mensah, businessman; Kofi Sarpong, former investment officer of VCTF; and Charity Opoku, aka Charity Ameyaw, an accountant at VCTF.
However, just as full trial was getting set, Mr. Duku, Irene Anti Mensah and Frank Aboagye Mensah reached an agreement with the AG’s Department under Section 35 of the Courts Act to refund their stolen monies to the state.
The three, per their agreements with the AG’s Department, will refund the entire amounts and also pay compensations over a period of time.
Per the agreement struck by Mr. Duku’s counsel Addo Atuah, the ex-CEO was to pay a total of GH¢15 million to the state as the money he stole and embezzled while in charge of the fund and was to pay it within three months.
Besides, the other two accused were willing to pay up to GH¢5 million bringing the total to GH¢20 million which the state would have recovered.
Order
Justice Oppong, on June 6, 2020, ordered the AG to ‘restructure’ the original agreement to include the accused persons admitting guilt and why they are giving up their constitutional right to trial.
According to the court, the current agreement between the two sides is unclear as it does not also specify the principal sum the accused persons stole and misappropriated and how much reparation they are paying back to the state which lost money as result of their actions.
Filed Agreement
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, yesterday told the court that the AG’s Department filed the new agreement per the orders of the court and the terms had been clearly spelt out.
Justice Oppong then called the DPP and lawyers for the three accused persons into his chambers after the DPP made the announcement.
The judge after the court resumed stated that although Section 35 of the Courts Act gave the accused persons the opportunity to pay restitution and reparation, subsection 5 of the Section 35 also gave the court the discretion to consider the agreement.
He said having looked at the terms of the agreement he is not impressed with them, especially when the accused persons were going to pay the many in installments and not at a go.
Justice Oppong subsequently rejected the deal and ordered that the trial should proceed.
The case was adjourned to July 3, 2020 for case management.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak