William Tevi

A former Director General of the National Communications Authority, William Tetteh Tevie and some others have been slapped with a total of 16 years jail time.

Jailed with Mr Tevie are former Board Chairman of the NCA, Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie and one other person.

Alhaji Salifu Osman, a former National Security representative coordinator, is the other accused person found guilty by the court and is to serve 5 years in prison.

Justice Eric Kyei Baffour found the trio guilty of causing financial loss to the state to the tune of 4 million dollars.

One other accused persons, a businessman, was however acquitted and discharged.

The Attorney has been ordered to seize assets belonging to the convicted persons, estimated to be worth 3 million dollars.

This is the first corruption case that was filed by the NPP government when it assumed power in 2017.

Prosecution led by the state from January 16, 2018, called six witnesses to make a case against the accused persons namely: Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie; William Tetteh Tevie; former Director-General of the NCA; Nana Owusu Ensaw, a former board member; Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman, a former Deputy National Security Coordinator, and George Derrick Oppong.

The accused led by their respective counsels opened their defence and did not call any defence witnesses.

The accused earlier filed a submission of no case but the court held that they had a case to answer and directed that they opened their defence.

Nana Owusu Ensaw, however, filed an appeal and got a ruling in his Favour leading to his discharge.

The accused persons were variously charged with stealing, using public office for personal gains, and willfully causing financial loss to the state in respect of the purchase of a Pegasus machine worth $4million cedis to among other things assist in the fight against terrorism.

They all denied the various offences and have since been on bail. Justice Baffour noted in his Judgement that prosecution had proved that the three accused persons conspired and caused financial loss to the state.

He said evidence showed that the transaction did not have the approval of the NCA’s board,and a loss was occasioned to the state.