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The Accra High Court has sentenced three former government officials to various terms in prison after convicting them of willfully causing financial loss of $4m to the state.

Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, a former Board Chairman of the National Communication Authority (NCA) will serve six years imprisonment for his part in the $4m NCA scandal.

William Matthew Tetteh Tevie, a former Director-General of the NCA and Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman, a former Deputy National Security Coordinator were each sentenced to five years imprisonment for also causing financial loss to the state in the scandal.

Baffoe - Bonnie received more years because the court held that he personally benefited from the deal to a tune of $200,000

The court, presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, also ordered the State to seize assets of the convicts to the tune of $3 million since the state has only recovered $1 million of the amount.

The three were found guilty of indulging in acts that led the State to lose the amount in a deal purchase of a cyber security surveillance equipment, known as the Pegasus machine, for the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), which was sponsored by the NCA.

A businessman - George Derek Oppong, whose company acted as local agent for the company said to have supplied the equipment was however, acquitted and discharged by the court.

The court held that the prosecution could not prove its case against the businessman and also that whatever infractions that occurred during the deal were occasioned by the acts of Baffoe-Bonnie, Tevie and Osman.


Discharged

Nana Owusu Ensaw was, however, discharged by the Court of Appeal after the second highest court had upheld his appeal against the decision of the trial court which had asked him to open his defence after it had held that the prosecution had been able to establish a primary facie case against him in respect of two out of the six charges he was initially charged with.

All the accused persons pleaded not guilty at the beginning of the trial.

Trial

The accused persons faced 17 charges, including conspiracy, stealing, using public office for profit, among others, after the prosecution had alleged that they created, looted and shared $4 million among themselves in the procurement of the cyber-surveillance system for counter terrorism in the country.

Prosecution Witnesses

The prosecution led by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Yvonne Attakora-Obuobisa, called six witnesses, namely, Abena Asarfo Adjei, Director of Legal Affairs at NCA; Dr. Isaac Yaw Ani, Deputy Director General in charge of Management and Operations; Colonel Michael Kwadwo Poku, Director of Operations at National Security Secretariat; Duncan Opare, Deputy National Security Coordinator; and Detective Chief Inspector Michael Nkrumah, the investigator of the case.

Defence

The accused persons opened their respective defence and denied all the charges levelled against them, insisting that the equipment was purchased for the NSCS as requested.

They also denied the charge of benefitting from the purchase of the equipment.

However, Alhaji Osman's testimony was heard in camera, as his lawyer told the court that his testimony would reveal issues bordering on national security.