Portly Victor spreadeagled

Mr. Victor Selormey, 54, the portly former Deputy Minister of Finance, in court to face trial on various charges, caused a scene in front of the Supreme Court building last Friday when he slipped and fell massively on the round in his bid to throw an object at a Graphic paparazzi.

He was helped to his feet by a good Samaritan, shaken and nervous but otherwise unhurt.

The drama unfolded about 30 minutes after the state prosecutors had read the full facts of his case in the Fast Track Court before Mr Justice Sam Baddoo, an Appeal Court judge had granted Selormey ?1.5 billion bail with two sureties to be justified.

The rotund Selormey, who is also a long time member of the SSNIT (Social Security and National Insurance Trust) Board, and his friends including Professor Kofi Awooner, a former Presidential Aide, had gone to execute the bail bond in the office of the High Court premises when the Graphic cameraman decided to take some shots, leading to the incident.

Selormey had vehemently protested against his pictures being taken but the cameraman persisted and directed his lenses towards Selormey, who then picked some chippings from the ground and attempted to launch them at the cameraman but slipped and fell.

Earlier on, in the courtroom Selormey, who was represented by Mr. Barima Manu, had pleaded not guilty to six charges ranging from conspiracy, defrauding by false pretences and willfully causing financial loss to the State.

Presenting the facts of the case, Mr. Osafo Sampong, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), told the court that following a special audit conducted by the government it was found out that Selormey had authorized various sums of money to be paid to Dr. Fredrick Owusu Boadu, a Ghanaian Consultant in the United States of America who works with Leebda Corporation of Texas between April 1997 and March 2000.

Mr. Osafo Sampong told the court that the moneys, which represent funds from USAID meant to generate growth for the non-traditional sector, were paid by Selormey into the accounts of Dr. Boadu.

He said that it was discovered during the investigations that the ex-Deputy Finance Minister wrote a letter to ECOBANK (Ghana) Limited authorizing the transfer of various sums of money totalling $1,297,500 into Dr. Boadu's accounts.

According to the prosecution, the money was meant for payment for services rendered by Dr. Boadu in respect of a court computerization project.

The DPP said that evidence would be led to show that Dr. Boadu did not render any services to the Government of Ghana and did nothing towards the realization of the objectives of the project.

He said evidence would also be led to show that Selormey acted together with Dr. Boadu with the common purpose of committing crime and made false representations to obtain the consent of the Government of Ghana through ECOBANK to pass on the money to Dr. Boadu. The case was adjourned to June 18 for hearing.