Former PPA CEO discharged in public office misuse case
Adjenim Boateng Adjei
A High Court in Accra has discharged Adjenim Boateng Adjei, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), in a case where he was accused of using his public office for personal profit.
Read full articleThe court also discharged his brother-in-law, Francis Kweku Arhin, who was facing a similar charge, Dailyguidenetwork reports.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor withdrew the initial charge sheet against both accused persons and replaced it with a new one, significantly reducing the charges against Mr. Adjei from 17 to eight.
The new charge sheet, which excludes Mr. Arhin, was filed before the registry of the High Court in Accra and assigned to Criminal Court ‘2’.
Adelaide Obiri Wood, a Principal Prosecutor at the Office of the Special Prosecutor, informed the court that they did not intend to proceed with the case against Mr. Arhin due to further investigation.
Justice Mary Yanzuh, the presiding Judge, subsequently struck out the case as withdrawn and discharged both accused persons.
Kwame Acheampong Boateng, counsel for Mr. Adjei, expressed disappointment at the delay in the case, given that it had been ongoing for almost two years. He had hoped for a swift trial. The new trial is set to commence later today.
Mr. Adjei now faces four counts of using his public office for profit and four counts of indirectly influencing the procurement process to gain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract.
These charges stem from allegations that he exploited Talent Discovery Limited as a front to secure public contracts, as exposed in a documentary by Manasseh Azure titled ‘Contract For Sale’.
President Nana Akufo-Addo had sacked Mr. Adjei on October 30, 2020, over conflict of interest allegations related to the ‘Contract for Sale’ scandal. He had been suspended the previous year following the release of the investigative piece.
The President reported Mr. Adjei to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for investigation into the conflict of interest allegation and also lodged a complaint with the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate aspects of the scandal involving criminality.
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