NCA scandal: Board chairman authorised $4million transfer – Former Finance Director

The Deputy Director General in charge of Managerial Operations at the National Communications Authority (NCA), Dr. Isaac Yaw Ani, has told an Accra High Court that the former Board Chairman, Eugene Baffoe Bonnie, impressed upon him to make the transfer of some $4 million without documentation.

Dr. Ani made this revelation while being led in evidence by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The former Director of Finance at the NCA was presented as the second prosecution witness in a case involving the former Board Chair, Mr Baffoe-Bonnie, and four others, who have been accused of playing various roles leading to the loss of $4million to the state.

Former Director-General William Tevie and two board members, Nana Owusu Ensaw and Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman, as well as a businessman, George Derek Oppong, are all indicted in the case before the Court.

The five are accused of engaging in infractions in the procurement of listening devices from Infraloks Development Limited for the state.

They are facing four counts of conspiracy to willfully cause financial loss to the state, willfully causing financial loss to the state and conspiracy to steal.

While being led in evidence by the Director of Public Prosecution, Yvonne Atakora Oboubisa, Dr Ani told the court Mr Baffoe Bonnie insisted National Security urgently needed to purchase cyber security equipment to aid in their work.

He told the court that because the money was not budgeted for by NCA, he inquired about the transfer evidence, but the then Board Chairman asked him to go ahead and pay Infraloks the $4 million while a letter is prepared.

Dr. Ani added that two weeks later, the then Director General of the NCA, William Tevie, handed him a letter he had minuted from the National Security Council, indicating the Board Chair had approved the payments.

He said upon receipt of the letter, he assumed the payment was approved by the Board, only to hear a year later in the news that it was not.

Counsel for the fourth accused person Baffour Assasie-Gyimah told the court that once the letter had a bearing on National Security, that aspect ought to be heard in camera, an argument he premised on Article 135 of the 1992 constitution.

In its ruling, the High Court presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour dismissed the argument saying the National Security aspect is remote, hence one cannot argue along those lines.