State to call first witness in former PPA boss AB Adjei’s corruption trial

The trial of former Public Procurement Authority (PPA) boss Agyenim Boateng Adjei is set to commence on November 29.

This is after the successful completion of the case management conference and the filing of witness statements and other disclosures needed for the trial.

In view of that, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (SP) is expected to call its first witness in the trial on November 29.

Mr. AB Adjei has been charged with 17 counts of using public office for profit and nine counts of directly and indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of procurement contracts.

On the other hand, his brother-in-law was charged with one count of using public office for profit.

They both pleaded not guilty and were granted GH¢5 million with two sureties each. The sureties are each to deposit their national identification cards at the court’s registry.

Mr. Agyenim Boateng has also been ordered to deposit his passport with the court until the final determination of the case.

Francis Kwaku Arhin, on the other hand, has been allowed to retain his passport on compassionate grounds because he resided in the United Kingdom with his family.

The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, who initiated the action, said Mr AB Adjei improperly and unlawfully conducted and participated in tendering processes in awarding government contracts to Talent Discovery Limited without disclosing that he was a major shareholder of the company.

The SP said as a member of the governing board of PPA, Mr Adjei used the company as a sure bet of winning the public bids and, as the implementor of the decision of the board, unlawfully altered the decision to favour his company.

Within a short period, the SP said Mr. Adjei amassed a “fantastic amount” of GH₵41million in his account, the reason he was in court.

Mr. Arhin, on the other hand, was to run the company until the retirement of Mr AB Adjei from public service, and the two will subsequently share proceeds from the contracts awarded.