Court discharges former PPA boss Adjenim Boateng
After one year, and 11 months of trial, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Adjenim Boateng Adjei and his brother-in-law, Francis Kwaku Arhin have been discharged by the High Court in Accra.
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This comes after a Principal Prosecutor from the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Adelaide Obiri Wood, notified the court of her intention to withdraw the case involving 18 counts of using public office for-profit and nine counts of directly and indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract against the two.
Withdrawing the case at the court presided over by Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, today (April 22), the prosecutor said they had filed fresh charges at a different court adding that they did not intend to prosecute Mr Arhin in the fresh case.
The former PPA Boss is expected to take his plea later today on the fresh charges which include eight counts of using public office for profit and indirectly influencing procurement processes to abstain an unfair advantage in the award of procurement contracts.
Mr Adjei was the CEO of PPA from March 2017 to August 2019.
He was sacked from office by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo upon the recommendation of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) after he was captured in a video documentary titled “Contract for Sale”,
The withdrawn charges were filed in May 2022.
Before he was discharged, the prosecution’s star witness, Manasseh Azure Awuni, who conducted the investigation, was under cross examination by lawyers for the accused.
The former PPA Boss’ lawyer Kwame Acheampong Boateng, expressed disappointment at the move by the Special Prosecutor adding: “Having gone through trial we thought the matter would be extremely expeditious”.
The pressing judge struck out the case against the two as withdrawn.