Godfred Yeboah Dame, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, has voiced his displeasure with the six-year trial of former COCOBOD CEO Stephen Opuni.
According to the Attorney-General, the inability of the court and judiciary to charge the former COCOBOD CEO is unacceptable. Long trials, he noted, have an impact on the battle against corruption.
Dr. Opuni and Mr. Agongo, a businessman, are accused of defrauding the State by false pretenses, deliberately inflicting financial damage to the State, money laundering, and corruption by a public servant in violation of the Public Procurement Act.
They have both pled not guilty to the accusations and are being held on self-recognizance bail of GH300,000.00.
Godfred Dame, speaking before media in Accra, stated that more difficult matters are decided quickly and that he is shocked that Opuni's case has lasted this long.
"For the last six years, we have seen the High Court fail to settle the Opuni trial. This is absolutely intolerable. It is unreasonable for such a case to be in court for six years while other more difficult murder cases are concluded quickly. This growth exacerbates unfairness and imbalance in our society, and the court, as well as judges, must plainly play a role in the eradication of corruption."
Dr. Opuni is being sued by the state.
According to the state, Dr. Opuni colluded with Seidu Agongo and Agricult Ghana Ltd in January 2014 to acquire a GH43.1 million fertiliser contract despite knowing "at the time of making" the contract that the firm could provide the fertiliser from Germany.
The allegedly German fertilizers were intended for the 2013/2014 crop season.
This method was used in two more contracts awarded throughout the three farming seasons from 2014 to 2016.
After a year in office, Dr. Opuni awarded a similar contract to the same supplier for the 2014/2015 farming season at a cost of GH75.3 million.
By the 2015/2016 farming season, the contract value for fertiliser had risen to 98.9 million cedis.
This takes the total number of payments in three years to 2.17 billion cedis, sums paid by COCOBOD, which in 2016 needed to secure a $1.8 billion loan to acquire cocoa beans from farmers.
Contrary to the contractual arrangement, which required Seidu Agongo and Agricult Ghana Ltd to get the fertilizers from Germany, the firm manufactured the items locally.
The fertilizers were produced without registration, in violation of the Plants and Fertilizer Act of 2010.
These Lithovit Foliar fertilisers were then given to COCOBOD.
According to the state, Dr. Opuni cooperated with the other two to wilfully cause financial damage to the state.
Contracts of 43.1 million cedis and 75.1 million cedis were granted through sole sourcing in 2014 and 2015. However, the state alleges that the sole-sourcing protocol was not followed.
The 2014 contract was issued without a price proposal, effectively handing over a blank check to the provider.
According to state prosecutors, the Chief Executive also took a bribe of 25,000 cedis from Seidu Agongo in October 2014.
He would then lie to the Public Procurement Authority in order to guarantee that Agricult Ghana received the contracts unfairly.