The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has described the conviction of three former public officials by an Accra Fast Track High Court to various terms of imprisonment as unreasonable, harsh and unfair. National Chairman, Dr. Obed Asamoah says in a statement that, at best lighter sentences of fines should have been imposed on the accused persons and not custodial sentences.
He noted that the three persons have been punished for a probable error of judgment, since it has been proven that they benefited in no way from the Quality Grain Rice Project. Dr. Asamoah drew attention to the Presiding Judge, Justice Kwame Afreh’s statement that the former public officials did not steal, transfer illegally any money, neither did they embezzle funds.
Three of the five accused persons on trial were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 16 months to four years. Dr. George Sipa- Yankey, a former Legal director at the Finance Ministry has been goaled for 16 months, Kwame Peprah- a former finance minister has been sentenced to various terms to run concurrently for four years while Ibrahim Adam, a former Agriculture Minister will serve two years.
Two others, Nana Ato Dadzie- a former chief of staff and Dr. Samuel Dapaah- a former Chief Director were acquitted and discharged of the charge of willfully causing financial loss to the state.
The NDC National chairman says there can be no talk of a loss to the state of Ghana because an American court ruling has ordered Juliet Cotton to refund any amount defrauded to Ghana. He noted that international experts in rice production have all confirmed the viability of the project and the quality of equipment at the project site. Dr. Asamoah says the NDC is surprised at the political colouration of the judgment delivered by Justice Afreh as though the NDC was on trial.
Source: GhanaWeb
