Two witnesses in the trial of Dr Alexander Kofi Tweneboa have denied the assertion that the police promised not to prosecute the accused.
The two—Detective Officer Emmanuel Agamasu and Detective Constable Eric Koley, both of the Documentation and Visa Fraud Unit of the Police CID—said there was no such undertaking to the accused.
Dr Tweneboa, who is also the former boss of the Ghana Real Estate Development Association (GREDA), and who is standing trial for SIM box fraud, had alleged that he confessed to the crime because the police had promised not to prosecute him as well as his cousins and nephews during their arrest.
But at the hearing of the case yesterday at the Financial and Tax High Court, presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, the policemen variously denied the claim, insisting the assertion could not be true.
In the case of Detective Agamasu, he said he was introduced to the accused as an independent witness when his (Dr Tweneboa’s) statement was taken.
He stated: ‘He (Dr Tweneboa) was not promised; I never heard anybody saying or promising him anything.’
According to Detective Agamasu, Dr Tweneboa, who was calm and jovial, wrote his own statement in a free environment before the police officers.
Detective Constable Koley, on his part, corroborated the evidence of Detective Agamasu in respect of whether or not the accused was promised by the police.
He said it was not true that Dr Tweneboa was promised.
Fiifi Abbam, lawyer for Dr Tweneboa, in cross-examining the witnesses, was emphatic that some promises were made to his client.
At the last sitting, the lawyer had taken a swipe at ASP Seth Serwornu, Head of the Commercial Fraud Unit, for being ‘inconsistent’ in his testimony before the court.
He stated that the witness had no knowledge of the case as at the time the caution statement was being taken.
Dr Tweneboa was arrested by a joint Anti-Telecommunication Fraud Taskforce for allegedly engaging in illegal SIM boxing at Manet Cottage, off the Spintex Road in Accra.
He is facing charges of providing electronic communications service without license, possession of illegal devices and knowingly obstructing and interfering with the sending, transmission, delivery and reception of communication.
The prosecution stated that even though the accused claimed he had been in the SIM box business for about two months, investigations revealed that he had been engaged in the activity for not less than six months.
It added that the state and service providers lost revenue amounting to $919,296 over the period.
Sitting continues today.
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
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