NCA $4m scandal gang of 5 trial begins

Two more persons who have been fingered in the $4 million scandal at the National Communications Authority (NCA) have been charged with wilfully causing financial loss to the state and stealing, bringing the number of accused persons to five.

William Tetteh Tevie, former Director General of the NCA and Nana Owusu-Ensaw, former member of the NCA board, together with the former Board Chairman under erstwhile John Dramani Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration, have been accused of conspiring to, and successfully causing financial loss to the state.

Mr Baffoe-Bonnie, Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman and Derek Oppong had already appeared before an Accra High Court, presided over by Justice Eric Kyei-Baffour, on December 22, 2017 where they pleaded not guilty to 17 counts of causing financial loss to the state, conspiracy to steal, stealing, using public office for private gain, in contravention of the Public Procurement Act, money laundering and intentionally misapplying public property, among others. Mr. Tevie and Owusu Ensaw were however, absent because of their medical conditions.

In court yesterday, the 16 charges were read to the two and they pleaded not guilty to all the offences proffered against them.

The presiding judge subsequently admitted them to bail in the sum of $1 million each with three sureties.

They have been further asked to submit their passports to the court’s registrar and if any of them is to travel outside of the jurisdiction in the course of the trial, he may need permission to do so.

The five accused persons are being charged for allegedly creating, looting and sharing a staggering $4 million among themselves under the guise of procuring a Cyber Surveillance System which they claimed was to be used for anti-terrorism activities in the country.

Preliminary investigations into the matter reveal that there was no formal contract at the NCA for the procurement of the device, but a scheme by the five to siphon funds from the commission.

Evidence also shows that the equipment, which was shipped into the country and kept in a private warehouse along the Spintex Road, came with no operating software, thereby rendering it unusable.

Mr. Baffoe-Bonnie is being represented by Thaddeus Sory; Mr. Tevie is represented by Agbesi Kwadzo Dzakpasu; Dr. Ensaw’s lawyer is Samuel Cudjoe, while Alhaji Osman and Derek Oppong are being defended by Kojo Yankson and Osafo Buaben respectively.

Trial

The audience in the courtroom was taken by surprise following a heated debate over the days for the trial of the case.

While the presiding judge preferred to hear the case on all days of the week, defence lawyers appeared clearly not satisfied with the suggestion.

Mr Agbesi Kwadzo Dzakpasu told the court that it would be medically impossible for his client to appear before the court on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays as he would be seeking medical attention on those days.

Mr Osafo Buaben also maintained that it will not be possible for them to be present on all days of the week as they have other cases to attend to in other courts.

Justice Kyei-Baffour held that it was important to give the accused persons the opportunity to clear themselves and “if they cannot be available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, then we can take Tuesdays and Thursdays, and if we have to take the whole day, we do.”

Lawyer Dzakpasu prayed the court to order the prosecution to furnish the defence lawyers with documents they intend to rely on for the trial – a plea the Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo, did not object to.

The judge held that in taking dates for the commencement of the trial, “the court takes into consideration the constitutional rights of the accused persons to a fair trial, the need to ensure expeditious disposal of the case, the need to accommodate the health conditions of some of the accused persons, and the commitment for lawyers of the accused persons on other cases.”

He said the court would therefore hear the case every Tuesdays and Thursdays of the week at 9am, beginning from January 16, 2018.

Charge Sheet

Ms Gloria A. Akuffo, who presented the facts, said sometime in 2015, the accused persons without authorisation, took a decision to purchase a Cyber Surveillance System, which they claimed was to be used for anti-terrorism operations. Ms Akuffo said Baffoe Bonnie, Tevie and Osman, without going through the process as established by law, engaged Peninat Yanyi – an Israeli lawyer and businessman who selected NSO Group Technologies Limited, another Israeli company – to supply the system. The Attorney General said Baffoe Bonnie, Tevie, Ensaw and Osman decided to purchase the system through a re-seller. Baffoe-Bonnie, therefore, nominated Oppong – his business partner and a Director of IDL – to be the re-seller of the system. IDL, she explained, was a company registered to provide logistics and infrastructure development. She said investigations revealed that the supplier of the surveillance system was not the object of IDL. According to her, in furtherance to the decision of Baffoe-Bonnie, Tevie, Ensaw and Osman to purchase the cyber surveillance system, Osman signed a letter on February 2016 in the name of the National Security Coordinator and addressed it to Tevie, in his capacity as the Director General of NCA and copied Baffoe Bonnie. By the letter, Ms Akuffo said, the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) solicited financial support from NCA for the surveillance system at a cost of $8 million.

The Attorney General said on the same day of February 24, 2016, Tevie endorsed a letter to the Director of Finance of NCA authorising payment for the system.

Prior to this request, Ms Akuffo said, the accused persons, without going through the required procurement process, had already executed a contract for the supply of same cyber security systems that the NSCS was soliciting funds for namely, the purchase of Pergasus systems and Cyber Security System.

According to her, the NCA on December 2015 executed an agreement with IDL for the purchase of the Pergasus system at a cost of $5.4 million, which was later revised to $6 million to include the commission of Peniate, the Israeli lawyer, for facilitating the business.

The Attorney General said investigations further revealed that prior to the request made on February 24, 2016 by Osman to the NCA, Tevie had already written to ECOBANK to transfer $4 million to IDL from the accounts of NCA.

She said the transfer was done on March 11, 2016 to IDL’s account, which was controlled by Oppong.

“Out of the $4 million paid to IDL, Oppong transferred only $1 million to NSO Group Technologies Limited for the supply of the equipment, leaving $3 million which was withdrawn over a period,” she revealed.

The Attorney General said the $3 million was shared among the five accused persons. The equipment, which was shipped by NSO Group of Technologies, arrived on May 31, 2016. According to Ms Akuffo, the equipment was however, delivered at a private warehouse along the Spintex road, owned by Alhaji Baba Kamara, the then National Security Advisor.

She said the equipment was installed and tested in the private warehouse in the presence of Baffoe-Bonnie and Henry Kanor, the Deputy Director General, NCA, in-charge of Technical Operations.

She indicated that after the installation, in May last year, Oppong reported the irregularities to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), which led to the conduct of an investigation into the purchase. Ms Akuffo told the court that investigations revealed that the Board of NCA was not aware of the purchase of the Pergasus system nor the institutional support to NSCS to purchase the equipment.