This was after the State Prosecutors, upon the instructions of the Attorney General, filed a notice of withdrawal on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, to drop all charges against them.
The former Chief Executive of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni, and businessman Seidu Agongo have been in court since March 25, 2018.
The presiding judge, Justice Aboagye Tandoh, upon hearing the prosecution, acquitted and discharged them.
“Accordingly, the accused persons – Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni, Seidu Agongo, and Agricult Ghana Limited – are all acquitted and discharged of all charges levelled against each one of them,” Justice Aboagye Tandoh, a Justice of the Court of Appeal who is presiding over the case as an additional High Court judge, delivered.
While relying on Section 59 of Act 30 of the Criminal Procedure and Other Offences Act, particularly (iii), the court said, “After the case for the prosecution has been closed, the accused shall be acquitted in respect of the offence or offences.”
On Tuesday, January 28, Enam Loh-Mensah, a State Attorney, told the High Court that the Attorney General has instructed that the charges be withdrawn and the same has been filed.
“My lord, respectfully, the Attorney General has instructed that the charges against the accused persons in this matter be withdrawn. Pursuant to this, the republic has filed a notice of withdrawal,” Enam Loh-Mensah, a State Attorney, informed the court on Tuesday (January 28, 2025).
Samuel Codjoe, Counsel for Dr. Opuni, and Benson Nutsukpui, counsel for Seidu Agongo, both confirmed to the court presided over by Justice Aboagye Tandoh that they had been served with the notice of withdrawal.
Background
On March 25, 2018, Dr. Opuni and Seidu Agongo pleaded not guilty to willfully causing GhȻ217.3 million financial loss to the state.
They were arraigned on a combined 27 counts ranging from willfully causing financial loss to the state, abetment of fraud, defrauding by false pretense, money laundering, corruption by a public officer, and contravention of the Public Procurement Act, among other charges.
Dr. Opuni and Agongo, the Managing Director of agrochemical firm Agricult Ghana Limited, were dragged to court by the Attorney General for allegedly acting illegally in a fertilizer deal (Lithovit Liquid Fertilizer) that cost COCOBOD the said amount.
They both pleaded not guilty to the charges and are on a GH¢300,000.00 self-recognizance bail each.
On March 29, 2021, the prosecution, led by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, closed its case after calling seven witnesses to prove the charges against the accused persons.
The seven witnesses, who include Chief Inspector Thomas Prempeh Mercer, the investigator, were extensively cross-examined by defense lawyers, some spanning about six months.
Dr.
He went on to parade 10 other witnesses, among whom were farmers and end users of the fertilizer.
On February 13, 2023, Dr. Opuni, through his lawyers led by Samuel Codjoe, told the High Court presided over by Justice Clemence Honyenuga, a Justice of the Supreme Court now retired, that his client would not personally testify, and that they would close their defense.
He said, as indicated earlier to the court, if satisfied with the evidence of the witnesses, Dr. Opuni would exercise his right not to testify personally.
During that period, Justice Honyenuga retired after a six-month extension but could not conclude the trial amidst controversies.
Fresh Trial
On April 4, 2023, the new judge assigned to the case, Justice Kwasi Anokye Gyimah, ruled that he would not adopt the proceedings of the retired Justice Honyenuga due to its controversies but would start the trial afresh (de novo).
He ordered a restart from scratch, saying it would be unfair for him to adopt a proceeding that was “saddled” with numerous allegations.
“It would be unfair for the court to ignore the allegations and adopt the previous proceedings as it is,” the judge ruled.
“In order for the court to have first-hand information of the trial and the demeanour of witnesses, the court will start the trial ‘de novo,’” the new judge said.
Justice Gyimah also pointed out that an accused person was by law required fairness and that the presumption of innocence should not be overlooked by the court.
Trial Afresh Reversed
On July 3, 2023, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the trial judge to start the trial afresh.
The panel directed for the proceedings and evidence led under the previous Judge Justice Honyenuga to be adopted.
Fast forward, Justice Kwasi Anokye Gyimah was transferred from Accra to Kumasi while Justice Aboagye Tandoh, now a Justice of the Court of Appeal presiding over the case with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, was assigned the case.
Agongo’s Witnesses
Businessman Seidu Agongo and his company Agricult (2nd and 3rd Accused) are calling their witnesses to put out their defense.
The ninth of their witnesses, a Principal Research Scientist with the Nuclear and Allied Sciences at Atomic Energy Ghana, Dr. Samuel Akoto Bamford, is in the witness box.
As part of his testimony, he said the test report from the Ghana Standards Authority being relied on to prosecute Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni and businessman Seidu Agongo is “unreliable,” and he would grade it one out of ten.
EIB Network’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Murtala Inusah, who was in court, reports that by dropping the charges, both Dr. Opuni and Seidu Agongo have been cleared of all the charges and will no longer appear in court in respect of the same charges.
