An Accra High Court has set March 28, 2019, to rule on whether to admit the police caution statement taken from embattled former Board Chairman of the National Communications Authority (NCA), Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie.
The ‘confession statement’ has become a bone of contention between his lawyers and the state in the trial of the former NCA board members.
Mr. Baffoe-Bonnie is said to have ‘confessed’ in the caution statement that all the other accused persons benefitted financially from the purchase of the $4 million Pergasus equipment in 2017.
However, in the course of the trial, he revealed that he made the statement under duress and that compelled the court to hold the mini trial.
The prosecution, led by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Yvonne Attakora-Obuobisa, called five witnesses to insist that Mr. Baffoe-Bonnie gave the statement on his own volition and was not under duress.
The accused person, however, waived his right to open his defence in the mini trial and incorporate it in their written addresses in the mini trial.
The court, presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, subsequently ordered the prosecution and the defence to file their written addresses in the mini trial for the ruling on March 28.
He added that the main trial will continue on the same day after the ruling for Detective Chief Inspector Nkrumah to proceed with his evidence-in-chief.
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