Judge Overules Counsel's Objections

Mr. Charles Hayibor, counsel for Dan Abodakpi, was yesterday dealt several blows by the sitting judge on various objections he, Hayibor, raised at the trial of his client over the ?2.7billion transfer saga.

Counsel, who went haywire criticising Mr. Joseph Ollennu, project secretary at the Gateway Secretariat, for giving evidence had to be overruled by the court to make way for the continuation of evidence.

The Principal State Attorney, Mr. Anthony Gyambiby, was leading the witness, who was also the secretary to the oversight committee of Trade and Investment Programme (TIP) fund, from1992 to 1997, in evidence to show the procedures of the disbursement of the fund.

According to counsel, witness was in the year 2000, not a staff at the TIP secretariat and could not respond to any question that fall outside the period required by the charges brought against the accused persons.

Mr. Hayibor told the court, presided over by Justice Stephen Farkye, an Appeal Court judge, sitting as an additional High Court judge, that evidence provided by witness had no relevance in the case, as it would be prejudicial.

Mr. Dan Abodakpi, former Minister for Trade and Industry and Mr. Victor Selormey, former deputy Minister for Finance were jointly accused of fraudulently transferring the cedi equivalent of US$ 400,000 from the TIP interest account in the year 2000, into the personal account of a consultant, Dr. Frederick Owusu Boadu, lodged in Ecobank Ghana Limited.

The said amount was in respect of the feasibility study into the establishment of a Science and Technology Park/Valley meant to raise funds for the export of non-traditional goods.

Mr. Ollennu told the court that the Gateway Secretariat, funded by the World Bank, had its own criteria in procuring the necessary inputs into its projects.

The project, he noted, goes for an international bidding and after the best is approved by the World Bank, payment is issued through a payment schedule in accordance with the output of the consultant.

According to witness, while at the secretariat, he briefly got to know of the Science and Technology Park/Valley but was not aware of the decisions taken on the project.

Mr. Ollennu indicated that he did not have knowledge about any project between the secretariat and Dr. Boadu, as he was not the final authority at the secretariat.

The accused persons pleaded not guilty to causing financial loss to the state and were granted self-recognisance bail in the sum of 3billion cedis each.

Meanwhile, counsel for Abodakpi deferred his cross-examination to January 27, this year, after a short interaction with the witness.

According to counsel, he was handicapped in putting forward the right questions to the witness in order to achieve the desired result.

He therefore pleaded with the court for an adjournment to enable him prepare adequately for his questions.