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The trial judge in the state’s case against former COCOBOD boss Dr. Stephen Opuni and businessman Seidu Agongo was forced to adjourn sitting after prosecution witness left him waiting for over an hour without showing up.
Dr. Yaw Adu-Ampomah who has been under pressure after giving contradictory statements whilst under cross-examination unceremoniously left the court premises moment before the case was called on Wednesday morning.
Senior State Attorney, Stella Ohene Appiah representing the Attorney General ostensibly told the court that the witness had stepped out in search of food.
“He came this morning and got hungry before 10am?” the judge wondered.
The judge, Justice Clemence Honyenugah, who had initially declined request by counsel for Dr. Opuni, Samuel Cudjoe, to postpone sitting due to the strike by the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG), decided to suspend sitting briefly so the court can wait for the third prosecution witness to return.
The judge had said there is no strike and insisted that “this case must continue”.
Prosecution therefore told the court that Dr. Adu-Ampomah would be called back for the cross examination to continue.
But even after an hour later, the witness was nowhere to be found when the court reconvened.
When Justice Clemence Honyenugah asked prosecution the whereabouts of the witness, she replied “my Lord, I called him but he said he is at Cantonments”, about 6 kilometers away from the Law Courts Complex.
Since the case cannot continue without Dr. Adu-Ampomah, the court was forced to adjourn sitting.
Sitting will continue on November 27, 2019.
Dr. Adu-Ampomah who was the Deputy Chief Executive at COCOBOD between 2009 and 2013, retired and returned to the establishment again in 2017 as Deputy Chief Executive before moving on to the Agric Ministry in October 2018 as the advisor to the sector minister on cocoa affairs.
He has been testifying at the Accra High Court in the case in which former Chief Executive of Cocobod, Dr. Stephen Opuni as well as businessman Seidu Agongo and his company Agricult Ghana Limited are standing trial for causing financial loss to the state in procurement related issues.
Source : 3news
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