Defence counsel for Kwabena Adu Boahene, Samuel Atta Akyea, has told the Accra High Court that the amount involved in the cyber defence purchase falls short of the figure presented by the Attorney General and the prosecution.
During the cross-examination of the fourth prosecution witness, Frank Marshall Cromwell, on Wednesday, July 15, Mr Atta Akyea questioned the investigator about the exchange rate used to arrive at the GH¢49.1 million that forms the subject matter of the charges before the court. According to him, applying the dollar-to-cedi exchange rate at the time of the transaction would produce a total of GH¢38.15 million rather than GH¢49.1 million.
“I put it to you that the cedi equivalent of the US$7 million translates to GH¢38.15 million at the material time,” Mr Atta Akyea told the witness.
The witness responded:
“That is counsel’s arithmetic.”
The lengthy exchange over the applicable exchange rate and the resulting figure prompted the prosecution, represented by Principal State Attorney Esi Dentaa Yankah, to draw the court’s attention to the fact that the issue had already been addressed during previous sittings, when documents from the Bank of Ghana were tendered in evidence.
However, Mr Atta Akyea argued that those proceedings related to other witnesses and not the current witness, who is the investigator in the case and who provided the figure relied upon by the prosecution in framing the charges.
The presiding judge, Justice Francis Achibonga, intervened, describing the matter as one of fact for the court to determine. He added that although defence counsel was entitled to pursue that line of cross-examination, he did not see its relevance because, in an offence of stealing, the specific amount allegedly stolen is not the determining factor if the prosecution succeeds in proving the offence.
“Does the amount involved matter if there’s money missing? Where are you going with this? If the amount is not up to the figure stated by the prosecution and is reduced, does it matter? The charge of stealing, if established, doesn’t depend on the quantum. Perhaps that may only come in when considering the punishment to be meted out,” Justice Achibonga remarked.
The case has been adjourned to July 23 and July 27 to 29 at 9:30 a.m. each day, and July 30 at 12:00 p.m., for the trial to continue.