The sixth prosecution Witness in the National Communications Authority (NCA) trial, Detective Inspector Michael Nkrumah, has said that in the course of his investigation, he found out that there was no transfer of money from the account of Infralock Development Limited to that of Mr. William Tevie (former Director General of NCA and the second Accused person in NCA trial).
He revealed this during cross-examination by Counsel for the second Accused, Mr. Godwin Tamakloe.
According to Inspector Nkrumah, he obtained the bank statements of IDL and the second Accused, with the help of the Financial Intelligence Centre.
He admitted that it was in the IDL account that the entire four million dollars for the listening device was paid into and added that IDL was owned by Mr. George Derek Oppong, the fifth Accused.
The detective also admitted that on the face of the bank statement of IDL there was no transfer of money from IDL to the fourth Accused, Alhaji Salifu Osman (former Deputy National Security Coordinator).
According to Inspector Nkrumah, there was no transfer of money from any of the other Accused persons, into the account of Mr. Tevie (2nd Accused), neither was there a transfer from the second Accused to the third Accused, Nana Owusu Ensaw (former board member of NCA).
In answering a question posed by Mr. Tamakloe, the 6th prosecution Witness said that he was not saying that the Pegasus system( a listening device), is not fit for its purpose, rather the equipment was bought at the time the country did not need it.
“The procurement processes were not followed and the board of NCA did not approve of the purchase. We are saying that the Accused persons benefitted financially in the purchase of the equipment”, he added.
Mr. William Tevie, Mr. Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie (former NCA board chairman) and three others are standing trial for their alleged involvement in the embezzlement of $4 million dollars of state funds in the purchase of listening devices for National Security, which was being sponsored by the Communications Authority.
The case has been adjourned to 11th April, 2019.
Source: GhanaJustice/S.Ayisi
