William Tevie and Eugene Baffoe Bonnie
The
case involving four former board members of National Communications Authority
(NCA) and a businessman has once again been sent to the Supreme Court.
Lawyer
for Dr. Nana Owusu Ensaw has filed an application for certiorari praying the
apex court to quash the decision of the trial judge who ordered his client to open
his defence.
This
was after the judge found that the prosecution had been able to establish a
prima facie case against him and the others.
This is
the third time the case has been sent to the Supreme Court challenging the
decision of Justice Eric Kyei Baffuor, the presiding judge.
Trial
Some former NCA board members — Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, William Tetteh-Tevie,
Dr. Nana Owusu Ensaw, Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman and businessman George Dereck
Oppong — are
before an Accra High Court charged with causing financial loss to the state,
among other charges, in the purchase of Pegasus equipment.
The
accused persons are facing a total of 17 charges including money laundering.
The
prosecution led by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Yvonne Atakora-
Obuobisa, closed its case on April 18, 2019 after calling six witnesses to
prove its case.
Applications
The
accused persons opted not to open their defence but rather filed a submission
of no case to answer, saying the prosecution had not proved its case beyond
reasonable doubt to warrant the accused persons opening their defences.
The
presiding judge, in his ruling, dismissed the applications and ordered the
accused persons to open their defence on May 30, 2019.
The
five then filed numerous appeals challenging the decision of the court to
dismiss their submission of no case.
They
also filed for a stay of proceeding pending the determination of the appeal but
all the applications were dismissed.
They
then went to the Court of Appeal seeking an order to stay the trial but those
applications were equally dismissed and they were ordered to return to the
trial court to open the defence.
Lawyer
for Baffoe-Bonnie then filed a fresh application praying the court to stay its
proceedings pending an appeal of its ruling saying their earlier application
was in respect of the admission of his client’s ‘confession statement’.
The
application was also dismissed and Justice Kyei Baffour expressly told the
lawyers to stop “prostituting with legal processes” by filing the “numerous
frivolous and vexatious” applications.
New Motion
The
latest application at the Supreme Court is seeking an order for certiorari to
quash the decision of the trial court to call on Dr. Nana Ensaw to open his
defence on two charges of conspiracy to steal and money laundering.
The
lawyer, Johnson Normesinu, subsequently prayed the court to stay its
proceedings pending the determination of the certiorari application since his
client was charged for allegedly conspiring with the others to steal.
The
Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakora-Obuobisa, stated that she would
have preferred the case continued but since the accused person was facing a
conspiracy charge, she would leave the decision to the discretion of the judge.
Justice
Kyei Baffuor subsequently adjourned the matter to November 12, 2019 pending the
determination of the application slated for October 29.
Dizziness
Earlier,
Mr. Baffoe-Bonnie could not continue with his defence which was slated for
today.
The
former NCA Board Chairman had at the tail end of last legal year opened his
defence but could not continue as his lawyer prayed the court to give them some
time “to put their house in order”.
Appearing
before the court yesterday, his lawyer, Abu Juan, who prayed for an adjournment
again, saying Mr. Baffoe-Bonnie was suffering a “running stomach” and “feeling
dizzy” as well hence could not stay in the witness box.
He
prayed for an adjournment to enable his client to seek medical attention.
The DPP did not oppose the prayer and the presiding judge granted it.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak
