James Kofi Annan was the 2020 PC for the NDC at Efutu
The 2020 Parliamentary Candidate for the NDC in the Efutu constituency, James Kofi Annan, has been acquitted and discharged of charges of stealing, abetment of crime, and dishonestly receiving.
The court presided over by His Worship Isaac Oheneba-Kuffour said “the evidence led in the case on the charges of abetment of stealing and dishonest receiving, leave much to be desired.”
The court also said, “The evidence presented by the prosecution could not in any way link the 2nd accused person (James Kofi Annan) to the personality who allegedly stole the cheques and sent someone else to pay them into the 2nd accused person’s statement.”
It added that “whatever links there could be to the source of the stolen funds are so remote and not even apparent on the face of the record.”
Background
On March 18, 2020, one Benjamin Ackah, lodged a complaint at the Winneba Police Command that an amount of GHS100,000 had been transferred from his account into an account belonging to the NDC Parliamentary Candidate without his permission.
The Winneba Police Command headed by Chief Superintendent Samuel Aseidu Okanta indicated that the preliminary investigation they conducted turned out that the money was transferred to a bank account belonging to James Kofi Annan the NDC Parliamentary Candidate.
“After several investigations, we found out that the bank account belonged to the NDC Parliamentary candidate James Kofi Annan,” the police commander said.
Subsequently, James Kofi Annan was arraigned before the Winneba District Court to answer to charges of stealing, abetment of crime and dishonestly receiving.
After a full trial, the court found that the prosecution had to make a case to sufficiently back its claim/charges.
It, therefore, found no need for lawyers of Mr. Annan to open their defense.
He was therefore acquitted and discharged of all the charges.
Following the court ruling, James Kofi Annan, who is also the president of human rights NGO, Challenging Heights, commented on his Facebook wall saying, “The court has ruled in favor of my innocence, and I thank God for the exoneration. I also wish to thank all those who believed my story, and kept faith with me, I thank all of you.”