Selormey's Trial: Leebda is fake !

The trial of former deputy Finance Minister, Victor Selormey has taken a dramatic turn. The principal prosecution witness in the case has told the court trying the former minister that his investigations in the United States reveal that Leebda Corporation does not exist.

The witness, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Jeff Edward Musore said contacts he made with the Texas Secretary of State indicate that Leebda is not a registered company in the US and that Leebda is an acronym for Law, Economics, Engineering, Business and Development Associates.

Selormey is alleged to have conspired with the one Frederick Owusu-Boadu, a Ghanaian consultant in the United States of America, and fraudulently caused the loss of 1.297,500 to the state.

He has pleaded not guilty to six counts of conspiracy, defrauding by false pretence and wilful causing financial loss to the state.

Selormey has been granted bail to the tune of 1.5 billion cedis with two sureties to be justified.

Witness told the court that further enquiries he made through the Ghana embassy revealed that Leebda is now known in the US so far as records on corporate entities are concerned.

Led in evidence by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Osafo Sampong, Musore said several attempts to contact the company through the several telephone numbers on the letter heads provided by the company proved futile.

Witness obtained documents from the Ministry of Justice in connection with the production and dissemination of legal information including electronic courtroom recording, which revealed that the contract was awarded to VMS International.

The contract was signed between the Republic of Ghana, represented by the former chief director of the ministry of Justice, for and on behalf of the Legal Sector Co-ordinating Committee and Kojo Agyemang, Project Director of VMS, who signed on behalf of the company.

Witness said he obtained other documents which included the final report VMS submitted to the Ministry of Justice and a covering letter dated April 10, 1999 asking the ministry to pay an amount of $33,970.90 being 20 per cent of the contract amount, into the company's account at the ECOBANK Ghana Limited.

The ASP also revealed during cross-examination by Barima Manu, Counsel for Selormey that although a copy of the audit report, which he obtained during his investigations, did not make reference to the accused, his probe into the matter, established that he (Selormey) was involved in the payment of the money to Leebda.

The auditors stated in page five, paragraph three of the report that two separate payments of $432,500 and $865,000 totalling $1.297,5000 had been transferred to Dr. Owusu-Boadu in the USA for consultancy services in connection with the court room computerisation. The payments were made with foreign currencies purchased between December 8, 1998 and October 2, 2000 through ECOBANK.