The Tamale High 2 presided over by His Lordship Eric Ansah Ankomah has granted a GH₵2 million bail to the Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Authority (NDA), Mr. Sumaila Abdul Rahaman, his former two deputies – Stephen Yir-eru Engmen and Patrick Seidu and the Chief Executive of A&QS Consortium Limited, Andrew Kuundaari over procurement breaches in the award of a contract at an amount GH₵10,400,000.
The four persons were charged with six counts which includes a joint count of conspiracy to commit the criminal offence of directly or indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement deal.
Appearing in court for the first time on Tuesday, January 31, 2023, the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against them by the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng.
The Presiding Judge, Justice Eric Ansah Ankomah however granted a bail application by counsels for the accused persons and ordered the accused persons to deposit their traveling passports at the court registry.
The court further directed the accused persons to justify their bail conditions by providing documents of landed properties worth GH500,000 at the registry with an undertaking that those properties are free from challenges.
Meanwhile, the prosecution led by the Deputy Special Prosecutor, DSP Cynthia Lamptey, did not oppose to the bail application. The matter was therefore adjourned to 28th February, 2023, for the case management conference.
Addressing Journalists after Tuesday’s proceedings, Counsel for the second and third accused persons, Lawyer Joseph Dindok Kpemka said the atmosphere was very friendly and all is set for the pretrial case management on the adjourned date.
“As you’re very much aware there were six charges levelled against the four accused persons and when the charges were read in open court, all of them pleaded not guilty. So everything has fallen into issue for trial to determine their guilt or otherwise.”
Conflict of interest
On the other hand, in his response to a question on concerns of him representing some of the accused persons as former Deputy Attorney General and Minister for Justice who supervised the passage of the bill for the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Lawyer Kpemka noted there was nothing wrong with that since he is not holding any public office presently.
“While in office as Deputy Attorney General, I presided over the passage of this particular act in Parliament, I was given the opportunity by my Boss but remember that I was at that time performing my function as Deputy Attorney General, today I am a private lawyer, I am not working in any government office and so I am representing my client” he explained.
Background
The Office of the Special Prosecutor in June 2022 commenced investigations into suspected corruption and corruption-related offences in respect of the award of a consultancy services contract by Northern Development Authority to A&QSs Consortium.
The matter came into limelight after it emerged that the immediate past Ag Chief Executive Officer of the NDA, Dr Alhassan Sulemana Anamzooya wrote to the office of the President complaining about his signature being forged at NDA to inflate a contract he had signed whilst in office at an amount GH₵5,720,000.
Private Legal Practitioner, Mr. Martin Kpebu however petitioned the OSP to carry out investigations into the operations of the NDA and the actions of its Chief Executive and Board Chairman.
