Court dismisses Abodakpi's appeal

June 21, 2008 (Page 3 Lead)

THE Court of Appeal yesterday dismissed an appeal filed by a former Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Dan Abodakpi, against his 10-year conviction for causing financial loss of $400,000 to the state.
In a 2-1 majority decision, the court upheld the lower court’s decision and ordered the appellant to refund the $400,000 which was paid to Dr Frederick Boadu for consultancy work back to the state.
Mr Justice S. C. Kanyoke and Mr Justice K. A. Acquaye held that Mr Abodakpi had caused financial loss to the state, but Mr Justice Yaw Appau disagreed, on the grounds that from the record of proceedings, the prosecution woefully failed to establish Mr Abodakpi’s guilt and for that matter his conviction was wrong.
He said the trial judge, Mr Justice S. T. Farkye, failed to consider Mr Abodakpi’s defence in accordance with the law and, worst of all, he failed to give reason for not believing Mr Abodakpi’s story, saying that amounted to “legal error”.
Counsel for Mr Abodakpi, Mr Tony Lithur, indicated after the court’s ruling that he would appeal against the decision at the Supreme Court.
Mr Abodakpi was pardoned by President J. A. Kufuor and was released from the Nsawam Prison on May 24, 2008 after serving 15 months of the sentence.
Arguing their case, Messrs Justice Kanyoke and Acquaye held that there was overwhelming evidence that Mr Abodakpi transferred the $400,000 to Dr Boadu in Texas, USA.
They said Mr Abodakpi was a full participant in the transfer of funds from government accounts to Dr Boadu, who was paid for feasibility studies he never conducted.
According to them, the trial judge was not obliged to give reasons for concluding that he (the trial judge) did not believe Mr Abodakpi’s story.
They further held that it was wrong for Mr Abodakpi to state that the trial judge completely failed to consider his defence, adding that the court was not duty bound to do that, especially when the prosecution had proved Mr Abodakpi’s guilt.
The court ruled that the evidence of the prosecution witnesses was enough to warrant Mr Abodakpi’s conviction.
The court also accused Mr Abodakpi of attempting to pass the bug to the late Victor Selormey who was standing trial with him (Mr Abodakpi) before his death.
According to the court, Mr Abodakpi’s conviction did not amount to a miscarriage of justice.
It further held that Mr Abodakpi and the late Mr Selormey, by their joint efforts, caused financial loss to the state, adding that Mr Abodakpi could not escape blame.
Disagreeing with his colleagues, Mr Justice Appau held that he had carefully studied the record of proceedings and it emerged that prosecution witnesses contradicted themselves in their evidence, thereby creating a doubt which should have gone in favour of Mr Abodakpi, as the law required.
He said the prosecution failed to lead evidence to prove that Mr Abodakpi and the late Mr Selormey conspired to cause financial loss to the state.
He said evidence led by the prosecution’s own witnesses rebutted its claim that no study was conducted to which payment should have been made.
According to Mr Justice Appau, from the record of proceedings and other available documents, Dr Boadu did some work which had to be paid for by the state.
Mr Justice Appau described the contract between the government and Dr Boadu as “perfect” and not “illegal” and further pointed out that the charges levelled against Mr Abodakpi failed miserably.
He further argued that the prosecution failed to prove that Mr Abodakpi had no mandate to enter into a contract with Dr Boadu, adding, “There was no evidence to prove that the sole sourcing of Dr Boadu was illegal.”
In any case, Mr Justice Appau questioned whether or not the Auditor-General and the National Security Co-ordinator at the time could also stand trial one day for sole sourcing Baffour Awuah and Associates to conduct an audit on the Trade and Investment Project (TIP), although the audit firm was not backed by the Constitution to conduct the audit.
He said the Auditor-General was brought in later to rectify the constitutional anomaly after Baffour Awuah and Associates had been contracted to conduct the audit.
“I find it difficult to understand why the court relied on the evidence of lay persons to convict the accused person, instead of relying on the prosecution’s own expert witnesses,” he said, in apparent reference to an expert who stated that there was no stipulated maximum fee to be paid to consultants.
He reminded judges that they had been appointed to uphold the law, as well as protect all people, irrespective of their colour, race, sex, political affiliation, religion, etc.
He appealed to judges to recognise the Constitution and act accordingly to ensure that justice prevailed at all times to the satisfaction of all.
He, accordingly, quashed the conviction against Mr Abodakpi.
Mr Abodakpi was said to have, between May and December 2000, acted, together with the late Selormey, who was also a former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Boadu, a consultant, and other persons with a common purpose, to wilfully cause financial loss of $400,000 to the state through the TIP.
The amount was in respect of a feasibility study for the establishment of a Science and Technology Community Park/Valley Project which was meant to enhance the export of non-traditional products.
They were charged with causing the transfer of the cedi equivalent of $400,000 during their tenure of office in the NDC administration when they co-chaired the TIP.
The former ministers were accused of causing the transfer from the TIP interest account lodged with ECOBANK Ghana Limited into the personal account of the project consultant, Dr Boadu.
They were arraigned on October 14, 2002 on three counts of conspiracy, two counts of defrauding and two counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state but both of them pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted a self-recognisance bail.