Opuni bounced again in court

The Supreme Court has dismissed another attempt by former Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr. Stephen Opuni, to challenge the decision of a Court of Appeal judge hearing his case in an Accra High Court.

The former COCOBOD boss had lost an appeal at the Court of Appeal against the decision of the trial judge, Justice Clemence Honyenuga, to stay proceedings pending the determination of an appeal against his decision to reject a document which his lawyers tried to tender through the third witness.

The document in contention is a letter written by the COCOBOD and addressed to Agricult Ghana Limited, the company belonging to Seidu Agongo, who is being tried alongside Dr. Opuni.

Not satisfied with the decision of the Court of Appeal, Dr. Opuni filed an application at the Supreme Court seeking a special leave to appeal the decision at both the trial and appellate courts.

However, a five-member panel presided over by Justice Anin Yeboah and assisted by Justices Sule Gbadegbe, Gabriel Pwamang, Samuel Marful-Sau and Agnes Dordzie dismissed the application, saying it did not raise any grounds for which a special leave can be granted by the court.

Trial

Dr. Opuni and businessman Seidu Agongo are before an Accra High Court for causing financial loss to the state to the tune of GH¢217,370,289.22.

The two are facing a total of 27 charges including defrauding by false pretence, willfully causing financial loss to the state, money laundering, corruption by a public officer and contravention of the Public Procurement Act.

Dr. Opuni’s counsel, Samuel Codjoe, in his cross-examination of the third prosecution witness (PW3), Dr. Yaw Adu-Ampomah, who was a former deputy chief executive in charge of Agronomy and Quality Control at COCOBOD, sought to tender a letter written by the COCOBOD and addressed to Agricult Ghana Limited through the witness.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Mrs. Yvonne Atakora-Obuobisa, objected the move, arguing that the witness was not the author of the letter and was not in a position to answer questions on it.

The court subsequently rejected the letter and it was marked as one of the rejected exhibits in the trial.

Dr. Opuni’s counsel subsequently filed an application at the Court of Appeal challenging the decision and then filed for a stay of proceedings at the High Court which was dismissed.

He then filed a repeat application for stay of proceedings at the Court of Appeal which was also dismissed on the grounds that the application did not raise any exceptional circumstances for which the proceedings should be stayed.

Motion

It is this decision that his lawyers were seeking a special leave from the Supreme Court to appeal against.

Moving the application yesterday, Aaron Mensah who represented Samuel Codjoe as counsel for Dr. Opuni said they were invoking Article 131 of the 1992 Constitution which provided that they needed the special leave of the court to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal.

He said the Court of Appeal made an error on the face of its records and the appeal relates to the constitutional rights of Dr. Opuni.

The application was opposed by Stella Ohene Appiah, a Senior State Attorney, who referred to an earlier Supreme Court ruling which provided the grounds for the grant of special leave.

She said the instant application failed to raise those grounds and pleaded with the court to dismiss the action.

The panel of five judges dismissed the application, saying “it has no merit.”

The lawyer subsequently withdrew another application which was seeking to stay proceedings pending the determination of the application for special leave.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com