LATEST ON GHANA'S FORMER FIRST LADY'S CASE

THE Accra Fast Track High Court hearing the case involving the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, and five others accused of causing financial loss to the state in the divestiture of the GIHOC Nsawam Cannery adjourned to next Friday to enable the prosecution to substitute the charge sheet.
According to the acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Ms Gertrude Aikins, the current 30 charges would be reduced when the new charge sheet was filed.
She wanted to file the new charge sheet yesterday in court but, according to her, there were some mistakes on it and, therefore, prayed for an adjournment.
The filing of the new charge sheet has become necessary because the names of three persons, namely, Georgina Okaiteye, a Director/General Manager of Caridem Development Company Limited, Larry Adjetey, a Director/Secretary of Caridem and George Mould, a Director of Caridem, were still on the charge sheet, although they had been discharged.
They were discharged when the prosecution withdrew the charges against them, leaving the former First Lady and five others, namely, Emmanuel Amuzu Agbodo, the former Executive Secretary of the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC), Thomas Benson Owusu, a former accountant of the DIC, Kwame Peprah, a former Minister of Finance and former Chairman of the DIC, Sherry Ayittey, the Managing Director of Caridem Development Company Limited, and Caridem as an entity.
They are facing various charges of conspiracy, causing financial loss to public property, conspiracy to obtain public property by false statement and obtaining public property by false statement.
All of them have pleaded not guilty to all the charges and are on self-recognisance bail.
They were alleged to have caused financial loss to the state running into billions of cedis in respect of a public property following the acquisition of GIHOC Nsawam Cannery, a government cannery, by Caridem Limited, which was owned by the 31st December Women’s Movement (DWM), in 1995 when the cannery was divested.
The accused persons, together with their counsel, were in court and the former First Lady, who was dressed in a white top with trousers, was, as usual, followed by some women sympathisers who were held behind the court fence amidst singing.
According to the prosecution, the accused persons failed to complete interest payments which accrued on the purchase price of the cannery and as a result had caused financial loss to the state.
The prosecution said the accused persons failed to pay interest which accrued on an outstanding balance of ¢7,069,640,664.86, amounting to ¢2,191,588,606.11, to the DIC in respect of the sale of GIHOC Nsawam Cannery.
Furthermore, the prosecution said evidence would be led to prove that the accused persons and Caridem, in 2002, knowing that Caridem, by their default and non-performance of the terms of the offer to buy Nsawam Cannery, had lost the right of purchase, intentionally executed a fresh agreement with new terms substantially different from the terms offered in 1995.
By that, the prosecution said, they concealed the deferred payments with accrued interests without the authority of the DIC, thereby intentionally causing the loss of ¢9, 736,213,810.97 to the DIC, which was a public body.
Ample evidence, the prosecution said, would be led to show that Agbodo and Owusu, in February 1995, dishonestly appropriated ¢274,984.600, being part of the purchase consideration paid by Caridem to the DIC in respect of the sale of GIHOC Nsawam Cannery, among other things.