Case involving former NSS Director adjourned again
The Accra High Court trying the embattled former Executive Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), Alhassan Imoro, has been forced to adjourn the case for the sixth time because of pleas by the prosecution for more time to complete investigations.
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After Imoro was granted bail on November 17, last year, the case had been adjourned five times— December 8, 2014, January 9, February 10, March 12 and April 21, 2015.
At yesterday’s sitting, it was adjourned to May 27, 2015 at the instance of the prosecution.
The case started on November 3, 2014.
Imoro was granted bail in the sum of GH¢90 million in the case in which he has been accused of stealing GH¢86.9 million belonging to the state through the payment of service allowances to fictitious service persons on the NSS payroll.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Audit investigations
A Chief State Attorney, Mrs Yvonne Obuobisa, yesterday told the court that audit investigations were ongoing and, therefore, prayed the court to adjourn the case to enable the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to finish its investigations.
The defence team was not against the request, but counsel for the accused person, Mr John Abu Jinapor, who held brief for Mr Yoni Kulendi, had issues with an aspect of the bail condition.
Currently, the existing bail arrangement orders the accused person to report
himself to the investigators every Wednesday.
Appeal to relax bail rules
But Mr Jinapor said it was a waste of time and prayed the court to vary it, since the accused person only went to the BNI to write his name.
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Mr Jinapor’s prayer was not the first time the defence had asked for the bail condition to be reviewed.
He said there had been times when Imoro was sick but had to report to the investigators at great inconvenience.
That claim did not please the Chief State Attorney, who said that condition was to ensure that the accused remained in the jurisdiction as investigations continued.
After listening to both sides, the court, presided over by Mrs Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa, adjourned the case to May 27, 2015 but urged the BNI not to hold the accused unnecessarily when he reported to the investigators.
“If it is just about name writing, he should be allowed to do it quickly and leave. They should not waste his time,” she said.
Facts
On November 3, 2014, Imoro was arraigned after he had been rearrested following his discharge by the Accra Circuit Court.
According to the prosecution, the accused was responsible for the posting and placement, raising of vouchers and payment of National Service persons across the country.
In July last year, the BNI received some complaints of malfeasance and began nationwide investigations into the operations of the NSS with regard to the payment of monthly allowances to service persons.
According to the prosecution, investigations so far had revealed that for every month starting from September 2013 to July last year, GH¢7.9 million was paid to 22,612 ghost service persons.
Writer’s email:seth.bokpe@graphic.com.gh