The former Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust, (SSNIT), Ernest Thompson, together with four others have pleaded not guilty to all 29 counts of causing financial loss to the state.
The five were charged by the Attorney General with causing financial loss to the state and defrauding by false pretenses, in the award of a $72million Operating Business Suite (OBS) contract.
The court on Tuesday read all 29 charges to the five accused persons and their plea of not guilty were taken accordingly. The Attorney General subsequently read the facts of the case to the court.
The four other accused persons are former Head of the SSNIT Information Technology (IT) Department, Caleb Kwaku Afaglo; former OBS project manager; John Hagan Mensah and Juliet Hasana Kramah, Managing Proprietor of Perfect Business Systems and Peter Hayibor.
The State’s legal team is led by the Attorney General Gloria Akuffo, together with Director of Public Prosecution Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, Alfred Asiamah Sampong, Chief State Attorney, Evelyn Keelson, Chief State Attorney, Stella Ohene Appiah, Senior State Attorney, Richard Gyambiby and Penina Asah, State Attorney.
The former SSNIT Boss Ernest Thompson, (first accused person) is represented by lawyers Abednego Tetteh, Samuel Codjoe, and Bernard Owiredu.
Lawyer Annis Mogtari, represents John Hagan Mensah, the Second accused person while Thaddeus Sory and Abua Juan Jagiara represent the third accused person, Juliet Hasana Kramah.
George Bernard Shaw represents the fourth accused person Caleb Afaglo while Oliver Atsu Amegah represents Peter Hayibor, the fifth accused person.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Wilberforce Asare
