The High Court hearing the criminal case between the Republic and some former directors of the National Communication Authority (NCA) has set Tuesday, May 12 to deliver its judgment on the matter.
The judge, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour fixed the date after the accused persons closed their defense.
Five accused persons, Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie; the former Board Chair of the NCA, William Tetteh Tevie; former Director-General of the NCA; Nana Owusu Ensaw, a former board member; Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman, a former Deputy National Security Coordinator, and a businessman, George Derek Oppong, were arraigned for allegedly procuring equipments for the national security fraudulently.
They are facing charges of conspiracy to willfully cause financial loss to the state, willfully causing financial loss to the state and conspiracy to steal.
All the accused persons took turns to open their defence, testified and denied all the allegations levelled against them.
Background
According to the facts of the case as presented by the Attorny General, Baffoe-Bonnie, Tevie, Ensaw and Osman were allegedly aided by Oppong to engage in the criminal act.
It said the previous administration had contracted an Israeli company, NSO Group Technology Limited, to supply a piece of listening equipment at a cost of $6 million to enable the authority to monitor conversations of persons suspected to be engaged in terror activities.
A local agent, Infraloks Development Limited, allegedly charged $2 million to facilitate the transaction, bringing the total sum to $8 million.
The facts explained that the National Security did not have the money to fund the transaction and for that reason, the NCA, which had supervisory jurisdiction over the use of such equipment, was asked to fund the project.
It said $4 million was withdrawn from the NCA’s account, while $1 million out of the withdrawn amount was deposited into the account of the Israeli company.
The Attorney General explained that the remaining $3 million was lodged in the account of Oppong, who acted as a representative of the local agents, Infraloks Development Ltd.
The state closed its case against the accused persons on the 18th of April 2019, following which the accused persons chose to exercise their rights under section 173 of the Criminal and Other Offences Procedure Act (Act 30) to file ‘Submissions of No Case.’
Baffoe-Bonnie is standing trial with William Tetteh Tevie, a former Director-General of the NCA; Nana Owusu Ensaw, a former board member; Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman, a former Deputy National Security Coordinator, and a businessman, George Derek Oppong for their alleged involvement in the embezzlement of $4 million of state funds during the purchase of listening devices for the National Security, which was sponsored by the NCA.
They have been charged with a number counts of willfully causing financial loss, stealing, conspiracy and money laundering.
Witnesses
The prosecution in making their case called six witnesses namely, Abena Asarfo Adjei, Director of Legal Affairs at NCA; Dr. Isaac Yaw Ani, Deputy Director-General in-charge of management and Operations; Colonel Michael Kwadwo Poku, Director of Operations at National Security Secretariat; Duncan Opare, Deputy National Security Coordinator and Detective Chief Inspector Michael Nkrumah, the investigator of the case.
