Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni
The former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni, has been hauled before court for causing financial loss to the state to the tune of GH?217,370,289.22.
The former COCOBOD boss, a stalwart of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), was yesterday sued together with one Seidu Agongo, a businessman and CEO of Agricult Ghana Limited.
He is also the CEO of Zeera Group of Companies, among others.
The two are facing a total of 27 charges, including defrauding by false pretenses, willfully causing financial loss to the state, money laundering, corruption by a public officer and contravention of the Public Procurement Act.
Dr Opuni has been accused of “abetting Mr Agongo and Agricult Ghana Ltd to defraud COCOBOD of the sum of GH?43,120,000 between January 2014 and November 2014.
He has also been accused of abetting the businessman to defraud the state the sum of GH?75,289,314.72 million between November 2014 and November 2015.
The NDC stalwart, who was fired last year for alleged mismanagement of COCOBOD, has also been sued for procuring “the supply of a substance described as ‘Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser’ using public funds without satisfying the prescribed conditions for single-source procurement” in February 2015.
“Stephen Kwabena Opuni, in February 2014 in Accra in the Greater Accra Region influenced the procurement process by misrepresenting facts to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) in order to obtain unfair advantage in the award of contract to Agricult,” it said.
The businessman, Seidu Agongo, on the other hand, is said to have between October 2015 and March 2016 in Accra in the Greater Accra Region, with intent to defraud Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), obtained the consent of COCOBOD to part with the sum of GH?98,935,974.50 by representing to COCOBOD that he would supply Lithovit Foliar Fertilizer from Germany for application by farmers on cocoa for the 2015/2016 cocoa season, a representation which he knew to be false at the time of making it.
Again, he is said to have sold “misbranded” and “adulterated” fertilizer to COCOBOD.
He has also been charged with money laundering – taking possession of the sum of GH?75,289,314.72 while knowing it to be proceeds of crime.”
The case is expected to be heard by an Accra high court on March 23, 2018.
Tenure
The tenure of Dr Opuni as the CEO of the COCOBOD was characterized by countless allegations of financial malpractices.
The former COCOBOD boss, who was appointed by former President John Dramani Mahama during his tenure, is alleged to have conspired with some top officials of board to siphon cocoa cash.
The current government has on numerous occasions raised concerns about his management of the affairs of the institution, accusing him and the former president of using export duty payment from the COCOBOD to siphon funds for activities not related to the cocoa sector.
Dr Opuni was at the centre of fraud investigations by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service over some scandals involving several millions of Ghana cedis at COCOBOD during his tenure.
One of the cases involved the alleged deliberate distribution of “spoilt” fertilizers worth about GH¢100 million to cocoa farmers from 2014 to 2016, which according to the Executive Director of the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), K.K. Amoah, resulted in low cocoa yield during the period under review.
Frozen assets
In February 2017, the assets and bank accounts of Dr Opuni were frozen following investigations into some contracts he reportedly signed during his tenure as well as financial irregularities uncovered by the NPP government.
He was a subject of investigation by the EOCO at the time when his assets were frozen.
Dr Opuni was on January 12, 2017 asked to vacate office barely a week after the NPP government was inaugurated.
The former CEO of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) was appointed by former President John Mahama on November 30, 2013 to head COCOBOD and since then the sector has never been the same again, with cocoa production alarmingly declining under his administration.
By Gibril Abdul Razak