COCOBOD retirees were re-hired to prosecute Opuni, Agongo - Agongo's lawyer tells court

The ongoing trial of Dr Stephen Opuni and Seidu Agongo has taken a surprising turn, exposing how the Akufo-Addo government re-engaged two COCOBOD retirees to build a case against the accused persons. 

Dr Franklin Manu Amoah, Dr Yaw Adu-Ampomah, and Dr Alfred Arthur were allegedly offered sweetheart deals to support the prosecution’s case.

Dr Amoah, who retired as CRIG’s Executive Director in 2015, was re-employed in 2017 as the first prosecution witness. Dr Adu-Ampomah, the third prosecution witness, who retired from COCOBOD in 2013 even after a contract extension, returned to COCOBOD again in 2017 as the Deputy Chief Executive in Charge of Agronomy and Quality Control.

Dr Arthur, the second prosecution witness, was previously suspended and transferred but was brought back to CRIG Tafo in 2017 and even acted as Executive Director, despite being described as “errant” and “lacking credibility.”

The three witnesses claimed that Lithovit foliar fertilizer is powdery, contradicting all the other staff who testified that it is liquid.

Mr A.A. Afrifa, former Head of the Soil Science Division at CRIG, clarified at the Adu-Ampomah Committee that he was 100 percent sure that the lithovit submitted to him for testing was liquid and not powder.

Dr Opuni and Mr Agongo face charges of defrauding by false pretences, causing financial loss to the state, corruption, and contravention of the Public Procurement Act.

 Counsel for Mr Agongo, Benson Nutsukpui, highlighted the circumstances surrounding the retirees’ re-engagement and the swift lifting of Dr. Arthur’s suspension.

 Jerome Dogbatse, a soil scientist at CRIG, confirmed the re-engagement of the retirees and Dr. Arthur’s transfer back to CRIG Tafo in 2017.

The case continues, with the defence questioning the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses and the motives behind their re-engagement.

“The former Director of CRIG, Dr Amoah, who received the sample, says it was powder. You, in your report, stated that it was fine powder, but the supplier brought liquid,” Dr. Yaw Adu-Ampomah queried the lead scientist who tested lithovit foliar fertilizer.

“No, chief, that one, I am 100% sure that what was brought to us was liquid in plastic containers, and I remember that it was liquid,” Mr A.A. Afrifa confirmed.

“In 2017, these two gentlemen, Dr Yaw Adu-Ampomah and Dr F. M. Amoah, returned from retirement as Deputy Chief Executive, Agronomy and Quality Control and Executive Director, CRIG, respectively,” Counsel Nutsukpui asked subpoenaed witness Jerome Dogbatse.

The witness who reviewed the Lithovit report after testing in 2013 answered in the affirmative: “That is correct.”

“Yes, he was transferred back to Tafo,” Dogbatse said of Dr. Arthur.

When the case was recalled on Thursday, May 2, 2024, Mr Nutsukpui, who is the Counsel for Alhaji Agongo, brought to the fore circumstances surrounding the reengagement of the two retirees and the swift manner in which the suspension of an errant scientist was lifted.

Counsel, therefore, asked Mr Dogbatse, who has been testifying in court as a subpoenaed witness, whether he met Dr Adu-Ampomah when he was employed in November 2013.

Although he noted that Dr Adu-Ampomah had retired before he was employed by COCOBOD, the witness recalled his second coming in 2017.

The witness also confirmed Dr. F.M. Amoah's retirement in 2015 and his re-engagement in 2017.

“In 2017, these two gentlemen, Dr Yaw Adu-Ampomah and Dr F. M. Amoah, returned from retirement as Deputy Chief Executive of Agronomy and Quality Control and Executive Director of CRIG, respectively,” Counsel asked the witness.

His response was, “That is correct”.

“And then Dr Alfred Arthur had his suspension and transfer to Bunsu lifted and retransferred back to CRIG, Tafo,” the witness was further asked.

“Yes, he was transferred back to Tafo,” Jerome Dogbatse confirmed.

Mr Dogbatse also confirmed that no Cocoa Nti fertilizer samples were ever submitted to the Institute for testing.

He also stated that there was no evidence or record of a delegation from Morocco’s OCP, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and Enepa Ventures visiting CRIG in 2013 with a proposal to submit a Cocoa Nti fertilizer sample for cocoa testing.

Dogbatse said, “I do not know of any fertilizer company that was prosecuted by the State after a report was produced by CRIG concerning them.”

The witness told the Court that Rev. Father Dr. E.O.K. Oddoye, the Deputy Executive Director in Charge of Cocoa and chair of a committee investigating Cocoa Nti fertilizer, suspended Dr. Alfred Arthur and found him guilty in 2016.

In 2013, Dr. Arthur traveled to Morocco with Enepa Ventures Limited, the local supplier of Cocoa Nti granular fertilizer, to meet with the product’s manufacturers.

It emerged from the proceedings that Dr Adu-Ampomah, Dr Arthur, and Dr Amoh were the only witnesses in the trial who had complained about lithovit fertilizer, but the witness said, “I know of my colleague Dr Arthur, who had complained about lithovit fertilizer, but I do not know of the rest.”