An Accra High Court has ordered that the former head of the National Signals Bureau, Kwabena Adu-Boahene, be kept in the custody of the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) for seven working days, to enable the Attorney General to complete the preparation of its witness statements.
The case has thus been adjourned to May 13 for further directions by the court.
At the last court date, this suit was adjourned to today for the court to consider submissions for the grant of bail in camera to determine whether or not the first accused person is to continue on the existing bail terms.
Counsel for the accused persons had submitted to the court to order the existing bail terms to be continued for all the accused persons, to which the Attorney General opposed in respect of the first accused person. His reason was that he had demonstrated interference with potential witnesses for the prosecution.
It is the submission of the AG which necessitated the court to order Counsel for the respective parties to appear before it in camera to make their respective submissions for and against.
Having considered the respective submissions of Counsel for the Republic and Counsel for the accused persons and the need to balance the rights of the accused persons, the Judge ruled that the accused be kept in prison custody for seven days to enable the Attorney General to complete the preparation of his witness statements.
Counsel for the accused, Atta Akyea, pleaded with the judge to include weekends in the seven days, but the judge explained that the AG doesn’t work on weekends. Deputy AG Srem Sai also opposed the request.
The judge later explained that his intention is to allow the 7 days because one of the potential witnesses is not within the jurisdiction and the state needs time, and not necessarily seven working days.
Background
Attorney-General Dominic Ayine has formally charged the former National Signals Bureau (NSB) Director-General Kwabena Adu Boahene and his wife Angela Adjei Boateng over corruption offences to the tune of several millions of cedis.
Together with two others, Mildred Donkor and Advantage Solutions Limited, they are facing charges of 11 counts of offences, including stealing, money laundering, defrauding by false pretences, and wilfully causing financial loss.
According to the writ filed at the High Court on Wednesday, April 30, Mr Adu-Boahene, who was responsible for overseeing critical national security infrastructure, including contracts with foreign companies, signed a deal with an Israeli company, ISC Holdings Limited, to purchase cyber defence software for $7 million.
In total, Adu-Boahene is alleged to have transferred approximately GHS 49 million (around $7 million) from the NSB’s funds into his personal accounts, falsely justifying these transactions as payments for the cyber defence systems, together with his accomplice.
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