Asabee's case : Attorney, lawyer clash over issues

March 6, 2010 (Page 19)

THE case involving a former Minister of Information, Mr Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, and eight others who are standing trial over GH¢86,915.85 renovation works at the ministry was turned into series of disagreements when a Chief State Attorney and a defence lawyer clashed on a number of issues.
It all began when the Chief State Attorney, Mr Anthony Gyambiby, accused Mr Augustines Obour, who was once a State Attorney but now in private practice, of wasting the court and everyone’s time following his (Mr Obour’s) demand for more documents from Mrs Zita Okaikoi, the immediate past former Minister of Information, although Mr Obour had failed to cross-examine on documents earlier tendered by Mrs Okaikoi.
Mrs Okaikoi had, on the last adjourned date, indicated that she had recorded confessions of Mr Obour’s client, Dominic A. Y. Sampong, a former acting Chief Director at the ministry, who had apologised for signing for the payment of the contract on her behalf without her notice.
Mr Obour then urged her to tender the alleged recording and other documents yesterday, which she did, but Mr Obour indicated that he could not cross-examine her on them without studying them.
Some few minutes after cross-examining Mrs Okaikoi, Mr Obour then urged her to bring along the record book which recorded letters that came to her secretariat from July 2008 but Mr Gyambiby sprang to his feet and wondered what Mr Obour was up to.
Mr Obour had earlier requested to listen to the alleged confession on Mrs Okaikoi’s cellular phone in order to compare it with what was on the CD she had brought to the courtroom but his request received stiff opposition from Mr Gyambiby and that set the tone for a series of disagreements between the two who used to prosecute cases together.
According to Mr Gyambiby, Mr Obour had, throughout his cross-examination, not asked a single relevant question and rather relied on requesting for more documents which he (Mr Obour) would eventually not cross-examine the witness on.
He then turned to Mr Obour, who stood at a far end, and said, “You came to fish for evidence and nothing else.”
But Mr Obour indicated that he (Mr Obour) was not a fisherman, to which Mr Gyambiby replied, ”You are a proverbial fisherman.”
Mr Obour disagreed with Mr Gyambiby and kept reminding Mr Gyambiby that he (Mr Gyambiby) had taught him (Mr Obour) prosecution and ought to know better.
The trial judge, Mr Justice Charles Quist, eventually intervened and ruled that the witness was not under any obligation to produce official documents.
He then advised Mr Obour to request those documents through a subpoena or through his client and further ruled that in any case the requested document was not relevant to the case.
After the ruling, Mr Obour attempted to take along the CD containing the alleged confession by Sampong for study but Mr Gyambiby protested and insisted that the disc could be tampered with outside the court premises and took the disc away from the bewildered Mr Obour.
Mr Gyambiby advised that Mr Obour could listen to the recording after it had been tendered in evidence but Mr Obour had indicated that he had no intention of tendering the recording unless he listened to it and decided what to do with it.
Mrs Okaikoi told the court that she had recorded the confession and apology because the matter had been dear to her heart and she wanted to avoid future denials.
Hearing continues on Wednesday, March 10, 2010.
Asamoah-Boateng and his wife, Zuleika, are standing trial with Sampong; a former Deputy Information Minister, Frank Agyekum; Kofi Asamoah-Boateng, a former Director of Finance and Administration at the Ministry of Information; Kwabena Denkyira, a former Deputy Director of Finance and Administration at the ministry; Yasmin Domua, a manageress; Prosper Aku of Supreme Procurement Agency Ltd and the company as an entity.
Sampong is facing six counts of conspiracy, contravention of the Procurement Act, attempt to defraud, uttering document and deceit of public officer, while Agyekum has been charged with conspiracy, contravention of provision, attempt to defraud and deceit of public officer.
Domua, a manageress and cousin of Zuleika’s, who was absent at the first sitting, was charged with only conspiracy to commit crime, after which she was granted a GH¢10,000 with two sureties.
Kofi Asamoah-Boateng faces six counts of forgery of official document and possession of forged document, while Denkyira also faces only a charge of conspiracy.
Prosper has also been charged with four counts of possessing and forgery of document of architects, engineering certificate and false tender document.
All the accused persons have pleaded not guilty to the charges and have all been admitted to bail.