The first Prosecution witness in the case in which Member of Parliament for Bawku, Mahama Ayariga, and eight others cannot be found.
In court on Monday, when the case was called, the State was expected to call its first witness, but Michael Baafi, an officer from the Office of the Special Prosecutor said they have not heard from the witness.
The officer told the court that they had made arraignments for the witness to stay in Accra, but he later called to say that his mother was indisposed and he was the one taking care of her.
Mr Baafi said he called the witness again last Saturday, and he assured him that he was at the bus terminal ready to arrive in Accra. He later called again and the witness said he was on the bus coming to Accra.
But, Baafi said he didn’t hear from the witness again. He told the court that, he called him (witness) at about 8:00 pm on Sunday, but all his phones were off.
He informed the court that they plan to subpoena him to come to court.
Justice Botwe said due to the Chief Justice’s directive not to start new cases that may not end before the end of the legal year, she had made arrangements for that particular case to at least get to the stage of submission of no case before the legal break.
But the lawyers in the case agreed to come back after the legal year.
Case adjourned to October 13, 2020.
Background
Mr Ayariga has been charged with using his public office for private gain by the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu.
He has also been accused of tax evasion in the clearance of vehicles and illegal transfer of foreign exchange from Ghana to Dubai without having the required license to undertake such transaction.
But Ayariga insists he is innocent and has accused the Special Prosecutor of unfairly targeting him.
Source: Kasapafmonline
