Court discharges Ghana First Company CEO
The Accra Circuit Court has discharged Frank Akuley, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana First Company Limited (GFCL), a waste management company, who was accused of defrauding some contractors in a project to build toilet facilities.
Mr Akuley was discharged after the court, presided over by Afia Owusuaa Appaih, struck out the case following a submission by police prosecutors to discontinue the case.
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“Based on submissions of the prosecution, case is struck out as withdrawn by prosecution. Accused discharged forthwith. Passport of accused to be released to him by Registry,” the judge said in her ruling.
“Any documents deposited at the Registry in fulfilment of the bail terms should be released to their rightful owners, that is the sureties, forthwith,” the presiding judge added.
The decision by the prosecution to discontinue the case was informed by a legal advice by the Office of the Attorney-General, authored by a Senior State Attorney for the police to stop the prosecution because there was no evidence that the businessman had any intention to defraud the complainants.
Rather, the legal advice posited that the best option for the complainants was for them to seek redress by filing a civil action.
Not guilty
Mr Akuley was charged with defrauding by false pretence over allegations that he defrauded some contractors over the Clean Ghana project, an initiative meant to build about 10,000 units of automated toilet facilities across the country.
He denied any wrongdoing, and pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Background
The facts of the case are that GFCL entered into a public-private partnership agreement with the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to construct ultramodern automated toilet facilities across the country.
The agreement signed between GFCL and the assemblies was for 30 years.
Subsequently, GFCL engaged other contractors to work on the project in order to meet project timelines.
The contractors, who claim to have paid two per cent of the contract sum before getting the deals in, said they were yet to be paid by the company.
Some even accused the GCFL of allegedly engaging in a scam.
GFCL denied the accusations, and said that per the terms of the arrangement the contractors were supposed to complete the works before they could receive payment.
The company also refuted claims of fraud, saying they were baseless claims to discredit the entity which was poised on improving the sanitation condition in the country.