Opuni trial begins

An Accra High court has finally commenced trial of the substantive case involving former CEO of COCOBOD, Dr Stephen Opuni and businessman Seidu Agongo, who are charged with willfully causing financial loss to the state.

The trail started on Monday, 16 July 2018 after several adjournments and concerns raised by lawyers for Dr Opuni that the state had failed to fully comply with an earlier court order for the prosecution to furnish them with all documents they intend relying on for the trial.

After hearing the submissions of both sides, Justice Clemence J. Hornyenuga started hearing the main case, as the prosecution works to furnish the defence team with the remaining documents.

Dr Opuni, Mr Agongo and AgriCult Ghana Company Limited, are facing 27 charges of willfully causing financial loss of GHS217million to the state, through three separate fertiliser supply contracts between 2014 and 2016.

The contracts were GHS43.1million (2013/2014 cocoa farming season), GHS75.3million (2014/2015 cocoa farming season) and GHS98.9million (2015/2016 cocoa farming season) totaling GHS217million through sole-sourcing, the state claimed, adding that procurement procedures for sole-sourcing were not followed.

Source: classfmonline.com