“We still don’t know who generated the letter for purchase of sub-standard fertiliser” – Witness

The investigator in the trial of former COCOBOD CEO, Dr Stephen Opuni, and two others, has said that the source of the procurement letter confirming the purchase of sub-standard fertilisers remains unknown.

The investigator, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Prempeh Mercer, of the Financial Forensics Unit (FFU) of the CID, made the revelation in court, as he testified under cross examination.

He was responding to a question from Counsel for the accused person, Samuel Cudjoe, about how the said procurement letter dated February 25, 2014, came into being.

Mr Cudjoe insisted that the letter was written by the procurement unit of COCOBOD.

But the detective said counsel’s assertion could not be true, as the letter that has caused huge financial loss to the state was not from the said unit.

“That can also not be true because our investigation proved the letter was not generated from the procurement unit.

“As we speak today, we don’t know who generated the letter but we know it was the first accused person (Stephen Opuni) who signed the letter, the police investigator told the Accra High Court on Thursday.

Aside the procurement breaches, an amount of GHC25,000 believed to have been paid into the account of the first accused person, Dr Opuni in November 2017 came up in court.

Detective Prempeh said the second accused person Seidu Agongo had written in his statement that the said GHC25,000 paid to Dr Opuni was for charity works.

“The second accused person wrote in his statement that the GHC25,000 he paid into the first accused person’s account on October 10, 2014, was to support him take care of needy children,” Mr Prempeh narrated.

At the last adjourned date, the witness said Dr Opuni in signing all the documents, which saw the procurement of lithovit, knew very well that the fertilizer from Agricult Ghana Limited had not been tested at all.

In effect, Dr Opuni was fully aware when he signed the document.

Mr Cudjoe pointed to the witness that Dr Opuni did not determine the type and quantity of fertiliser purchase.

The witness disagreed.

He said Dr Opuni knew very well the fertiliser in question and directed that the testing period be shortened.

Per CRIG procedure, agrochemicals that are sent to the Institute for testing must go through a minimum testing period of two years and a maximum of three years.

But COCOBOD appears to have done the contrary.

According to witness, Dr Opuni was the same person who instructed for the issuance of a certificate on the lithovit follar fertiliser on January 22, 2014.

Background

In March 2018, the A-G charged the former CEO of Ghana COCOBOD, Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni and Seidu Agongo, who is the CEO of Agricult Ghana Limited, for causing financial loss to the state.

The two have been charged with 27 counts, including allegedly engaging in illegalities that caused financial loss of GH¢271.3 million to the state.

The illegalities led to the distribution of sub-standard fertilizer to cocoa farmers.

Agongo is alleged to have used fraudulent means to sell sub-standard fertilizer to COCOBOD for onward distribution to cocoa farmers, while Dr Opuni is accused of facilitating the act by allowing Agongo’s products not to be tested and certified, as required by law.

The two accused persons have pleaded not guilty to all the 27 charges and are currently on a GH¢300,000 self-recognisance bail each.

The case continues on March 22, 2021.