Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni, the prosecuted former COCOBOD Chief Executive, began his defense in the GH217 million financial loss action on Thursday, December 2, 2021.
This follows the Supreme Court’s reinstatement of Justice Clemence Honyenuga as a trial judge by a Supreme Court review panel.
In a cocoa fertilizer deal, Dr. Opuni is on trial with Seidu Agongo, Chief Executive of Agricult Ghana Limited, and the company itself.
In court on Thursday, lawyers for Dr. Opuni brought the court’s attention to a letter submitted on November 24, 2021, demanding the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction over certain of the reliefs sought by the prosecution, which inferred the accused persons’ guilt even before the trial began.
Pursuant to this, the lawyers prayed the court to stay proceedings until the Supreme Court rules on the writ.
Justice Honyenuga, however, ruled that unless there’s an order restraining him from proceeding with the trial, the application would not succeed.
Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni thus opened his defence with a former Director of Finance at COCOBOD, Charles Tetteh Dodoo as his first witness.
The former COCOBOD CEO and Agricult Ghana Limited CEO, Seidu Agongo, are standing trial together with Agricult Ghana Limited for allegedly causing the state to lose over GH¢217 million in a cocoa fertilizer transaction.
Dr. Opuni and Mr. Agongo are facing 27 charges including defrauding by false pretences, wilfully causing financial loss to the state, money laundering, corruption by public officers, and contravention of the Public Procurement Act.
