Ex-minister, MD on financial loss charge

Thursday, October 15, 2009 (Page 3 Lead)

A former Minister of Foreign Affairs and the former Managing Director of the National Investment Bank (NIB) were yesterday put before the Financial Division of the Fast Track High Court, charged with wilfully causing financial loss to the state.
Mr Akwasi Osei-Adjei and Mr Daniel Charles Gyimah were alleged to have acted together to steal 2,997 bags of rice, valued at US$1,408,590, but lawyers for the accused persons have argued that diplomatic efforts embarked upon by the accused persons to solve the food shortage in the country had been “criminalised”.
The two were charged with eight counts of conspiracy, contravention of provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663), using public office for profit, stealing and wilfully causing financial loss to the state.
They pleaded not guilty to the charges and were each admitted to bail in the sum of GH¢200,000 with two sureties each to be justified.
Clarifying the bail conditions, the court ordered that the sureties should be immovable properties valued at GH¢1 million. It also ordered that the title deeds covering the immovable properties must be deposited at the court’s registry until otherwise directed by the court.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Bright Mensah, further ordered the accused persons to report themselves once a week to the investigator in charge of the case.
It, however, declined to order them to deposit their passports, as requested by Mr Anthony Gyambiby, a Chief State Attorney, on the grounds that it was a subject matter at the Court of Appeal.
The court had earlier granted bail in the sum of GH¢2 million to each of the accused persons but counsel for Mr Osei-Adjei, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, prayed the court to vary it, to which the court obliged.
The bail was granted after Mr Dame and counsel for Mr Gyimah, Colonel Alex Johnson (retd), had prayed the court to grant their clients bail, since they were men of repute who would avail themselves for trial.
The matter was adjourned to November 4, 2009 for hearing.
The facts of the case were that some time in February 2008 a former Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Joe Baidoo-Ansah, initiated the importation of rice from India and in a letter dated February 13, 2008 the said minister requested the Government of India, through the High Commission of India in Ghana, to buy 100,000 metric tonnes of (25 - 35 per cent) broken rice.
According to the prosecution, the rice was to arrive in Ghana by May 2008 to help curb the severe increases in the prices of staples in Ghana, while the Ghana National Procurement Agency (GNPA) was the designated consignee.
It said Mr Baidoo-Ansah, in another letter dated April 10, 2008 and addressed to the Minister of External Affairs of India, referred to an earlier meeting held between former President John Agyekum Kufuor and the Minister of Commerce of India and drew attention to the "severe food situation looming in Ghana" and sought to procure from the Government of India 300,000 metric tonnes of low grade white 25 per cent broken rice for shipment to Ghana by June 2008.
In April 2008, Mr Osei-Adjei took over the effort by Mr Baidoo-Ansah and nominated the NIB as the sole consignee. In the process, the NIB, represented by Mr Gyimah, negotiated the terms of the contract with the State Trading Corporation of India through the Ghana High Commission in India.
The prosecution said Ghana’s High Commissioner to India was instructed by Mr Osei-Adjei to sign the contract on behalf of the Government of Ghana, the High Commission and NIB.
The contract was executed and 15,000 metric tonnes (300,000 bags) of rice of 25 per cent broken was to be shipped by Amira Foods Limited (AFL) of India, a private shipping company. The consignment arrived at the Tema Harbour on February 18, 2009.
Initially, the importation of the rice to Ghana was supposed to be a grant but it later turned into a commercial transaction and for that matter Mr Gyimah approached Citibank to issue letters of credit to cover the value of the consignment.
It said on the arrival of the rice, efforts by the NIB to get tax exemption from the Ministry of Finance, which was side-stepped during the transaction, was turned down due to the commercial nature of the transaction.
According to the prosecution, a physical count of the rice revealed a shortage of 2,997 bags, adding that the remaining rice was in varying states of wholesomeness.
The prosecution further stated that investigations conducted into the importation of the rice revealed that provisions of the Public Procurement Act had been side-stepped, adding that the 2,997 missing bags were short-landed and diverted for sale for huge private profit.
The prosecution said it would lead evidence to prove the guilt of the accused persons but their counsel also argued that they would, in the course of the trial, prove the innocence of their clients.