The National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for the Effutu constituency, in the 2020 election, James Kofi Annan, has been acquitted of charges of stealing, abetment of crime and dishonestly receiving.
The court, presided over by his worship, Isaac Oheneba-Kuffour, said, “the evidence led in the case on the charges of abetment of stealing and dishonestly receiving, leaves much to be desired.”
The court also said, “the evidence presented by the prosecution could not in any way link the 2nd accused person (James Kofi Annan) to the personality who allegedly stole the cheques and sent someone else to pay them into the 2nd accused person’s Account.”
Adding that, “whatever links there could be to the source of the stolen funds, are so remote and not even apparent on the face of the record.”
Background
On March 18, 2020, one Benjamin Ackah, lodged a complaint at the Winneba Police Command that, an amount of GHc100, 000 had been transferred from his Bank Account into a Bank Account belonging to the NDC parliamentary candidate without his permission,
The Winneba Police Command headed by Chief Superintendent Samuel Asiedu Okanta, indicated that the preliminary investigation they conducted turned out that the money was transferred to a Bank Account belonging to Mr Annan the NDC parliamentary candidate.
“After several investigations, we found out that the Bank Account belonged to the NDC parliamentary candidate James Kofi Annan,” the Police Commander said.
Subsequently, Mr Annan was put before the Winneba District Court to answer to charges of stealing, abetment of crime and dishonestly receiving.
After a full trial, the court found that the prosecution had to make a case to sufficiently back its claim/charges. It, therefore, found no need for lawyers of Mr Annan to open their defence.
He was, therefore, acquitted and discharged of all the charges.
Following the court ruling, Mr Annan, who is also President of Challenging Heights, commented on his facebook wall saying: “The court has ruled in favour of my innocence, and I thank God for the exoneration. I also wish to thank all those who believed my story, and kept faith with me, I thank all of you…”