Accused in GYEEDA case meets bail conditions

February 28,2014. Page 43

One of the accused persons in the GH¢4.1 million GYEEDA case has finally met bail conditions imposed by the Financial Division of the High Court.

He has been in lawful custody for four weeks, four days.
Philip Akpeena Assibit, who was on January 24, 2014 granted a GH¢2 million bail, with four sureties, two to be justified, could not meet the bail conditions and thus had to be transferred from police custody into prison custody.
Counsel for Assibit, Mr Raymond Bagnabu, told the Daily Graphic in Accra on Wednesday that his client had eventually fulfilled the bail conditions and had since been released by prison authorities.
Declining to cite the specific condition his client could not meet, counsel said: “There was a problem with documentation, so it had to be redone.”
Mr Bagnabu further explained that state agencies like the Lands Commission and the Land Valuation Board had to assess documents submitted by Assibit’s sureties.
The inspection and evaluation process, according to counsel, took a while to complete.
“As a result, Assibit was moved from police custody last week and transferred to the Nsawam Medium Security Prison,” counsel explained.
“He was there until this morning when he was released,” Mr Bagnabu added.

Offence
Assibit, a representative of Goodwill International Group (GIG), and a former National Co-ordinator of the NYEP, Abuga Pele, have been accused of committing acts that led to the loss of GH¢4.1 million to the state.
Pele is alleged to have entered into a contract with Assibit to engage in activities which have not inured to the benefit of the state.
The former Co-ordinator of the NYEP, which is now known as the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), has pleaded not guilty to two counts of abetment of crime, intentionally misapplying public property and five counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state.
Assibit, on the other hand, has been charged with six counts of defrauding by false pretence and five counts of dishonestly causing loss to public property.
He has also denied any wrongdoing.
Pele is on self-recognisance bail.

Extracts of Offence
According to the prosecution, Pele and Assibit signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which gave GIG the mandate to render services without recourse to the then Minister of Employment or the Attorney-General.
Assibit was said to have given false representation that he had secured a $65-million loan facility from the World Bank for the implementation of the Youth Enterprises Development Programme (YEDP) and had, in the process, employed 250 youth to support the implementation of the YEDP, as well as developed and facilitated the launch of an effectual exit programme for all NYEP modules.

First prosecution witness
The first prosecution witness, Nuru Hamidan, began testifying on February 11, 2014.
He has since completed his evidence in chief and is being cross examined by the defence team.
Hearing resumes on March 4, 2014.