The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Dame to halt the trial of former COCOBOD CEO, Stephen Opuni and businessman, Seidu Agongo.
On Monday, 16 July 2021, an Accra High Court commenced trial on a substantive case involving the two men for willfully causing financial loss to the state.
Dr. Opuni, Seidu Agongo, and AgriCult Ghana were slapped with 27 charges of willfully causing financial loss of GHS217million to the state, through three separate fertiliser supply contracts between 2014 and 2016.
The trial proceedings have since continued amidst many interesting twists. In a recent development regarding the case, the Supreme Court on October 26, sustained an appeal by the Attorney-General for Justice Honyenuga to continue as a trial judge on the case.
But the National Democratic Congress believes that, this development, coupled with other landmark events in the trial proceedings, all constitute a travesty of justice.
In a statement issued by the party’s General Secretary on Sunday, November 14, 2021, the NDC expressed their reservations about the trial in 16 separate paragraphs.
In all 16 paragraphs, the NDC bemoaned the mode of trial, alleging legal inconsistencies, bias, and lack of demonstrable integrity and fairness, especially on the part of Justice Clemence Jackson Honyenuga.
According to the party, the trial appears to be more of political persecution than the actual quest for justice. The NDC is therefore urging the Attorney General to enter a nolle prosequi to terminate the trial proceedings.
‘It is in this regard and without prejudice to the pending criminal trial of the accused persons that we call on the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to stop the persecution of the accused persons by withdrawing the charges or entering a nolle prosequi.
We believe that such a course of conduct is appropriate because the action of the Attorney General in the past in escalating a simple criminal trial to the level of political gamesmanship with Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni being mischievously presented as the poster child of NDC-Government corruption, who must be jailed by all means because “fair is foul and foul is fair”, make it abundantly clear that the criminal trial of the accused persons is not a criminal prosecution. Instead, it is political persecution by the Attorney-General masquerading as an exercise in Rule of Law and criminal justice,” part of the statement said.
