Crime

New judge takes over case involving Collins Dauda, 4 others

A new High Court judge, Justice Elfreda Amy Dankyi, has taken over the case involving a former Minister of Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda, and four others facing 52 counts of causing financial loss of $200m to the state over the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project.

This is because, Justice Comfort Tasiame, who presided over the case when the accused first appeared in court during the legal vacation, was on leave and as a result, Justice Dankyi would be the presiding judge to determine the merits of the case.

The move, accordingly, was to ensure that there was no delay with the trial of the case.

 When the case was called yesterday, Chief State Attorney, Mrs Evelyn Keelson, informed the new judge that prosecution will need six weeks to file its disclosures and witness statements.

Consequently, the presiding judge, ordered prosecution to file all relevant documents before December 22, 2021, a date set by the court for Case Management Conference (CMC).

It was the case that in August this year, the former minister, his successor, Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah; the Chief Director at the ministry from 2009 to 2017, Alhaji Ziblim Yakubu; and the Executive Chairman of Construtora OAS, the Brazilian company which constructed the affordable housing project at Saglemi,  Andrew Clocanas, and a director of RMS, the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) consultancy subcontractor, Nouvi Tetteh Angelo, pleaded not guilty to the charges against them and were admitted to bail in various sums under various conditions

The charges include willfully causing financial loss to the state, misapplying public property, issuing false certificates and dishonestly causing loss to public property.

Alhaji Dauda is currently on a self-recognisance bail and Dr Agyeman-Mensah and Alhaji Yakubu are on a bail of $65 million each with three sureties with Clocanas  on a bail in the sum of $179 million with three sureties while Angelo is on a $13 million bail with three sureties.

BY TIMES REPORTER

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