A former board member of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), Kofi Boakye, has been accused of being untruthful in his testimony at a High Court in Accra, where the former Chief Executive Officer and the Board chairman are standing trial for allegedly causing a $2 million financial loss to the state.
The accusation made by Victoria Barth, counsel for Solomon Asamoah, came as a result of some contradictory statements made by the witness during cross-examination, some of which contradicted what the prosecution’s first witness had stated.
Mr. Asamoah and former board Chairman of GIIF, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, are standing trial for allegedly causing a $2 million financial loss to the state by investing state funds in the Sky Train project.
The prosecution’s main accusation is that the two accused sanctioned the investment of the fund without the GIIF board’s approval.
Although documents refer to the project as board-approved, the prosecution’s two witnesses, Yaw Odame-Darkwa, who were members of the board, claim there was no board approval for the project.
Kofi Boakye, who was an acting secretary to the GIIF board and sub-boards, went a step further to claim that there was no “final approval” for the project.
The two prosecution witnesses who have so far testified have made contradictory statements under cross-examination by defence lawyers.
During cross-examination, Kofi Boakye categorically stated that “the Sky Train matter was a matter that was mentioned at several board meetings,” a statement which sharply contradicts Yaw Odame-Darkwa’s claim that “the Sky Train concept was only introduced at one of our board meetings.”
Mr. Boakye also contradicted his colleague board member when he claimed that the full board of GIIF never considered or approved the 2019 audited financial statement of the Fund, adding that he could not tell if the 2020 and 2021 financial statements were approved, as he had left the board at that time.
Mr. Yaw Odame-Darkwa, under cross-examination by Mrs. Barth, confirmed that the 2019 and 2020 audited financial statements of the Fund were duly considered and approved by the full board of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund.
The 2019 audited financial statements of GIIF recognised the Sky Train project as one of the Fund’s existing projects, despite claims that it was not approved by the board.
“The Fund has invested US$ 2 million in AI SkyTrain Consortium Holdings incorporated in the Republic of Mauritius. The purpose is to establish Ghana SkyTrain Limited to develop the Accra SkyTrain Project through a concession on a Design, Build, Finance, and Operate arrangement.
The Fund holds an equity interest of 10% in the company,” GIIF’s Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2019 stated.
This report was duly signed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and Boateng, Offei and Co., which did the joint audit, as well as Mr. Asamoah and Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi.
The lawyer then confronted the witness about whether he would be surprised to learn that his fellow board member, Yaw Odame-Darkwa, has confirmed to the court that the financial statements for 2020 and 2021 were duly approved by the entire GIIF board before the CEO and Chairman appended their signatures.
“That would be surprising, Kofi Boakye answered, adding that by the end of January 2021, the board of which I was a member had been reconstituted. Consequently, unless my memory fails me, these audited accounts should have been considered by the board that replaced us.”
Mrs. Bath also drew the witness’s attention to page 42 of the 2019 audited financial statement, where the Sky Train project is described as an existing project for which GIIF had invested $2 million for a 10% equity stake.
Although he admitted that audited accounts make that categorical statement, he said an audit is not sacrosanct.
“This report is being attributed to the board of which I was a member, and I re-emphasize that this audited account was not considered and approved by the board of which I was a member.
This and other responses led Mrs. Barth to accuse the witness of not being “a truthful witness in all matters relating to the GIIF board’s approval of the Sky Train project, even when confronted with credible documentary evidence. The witness denied this and said, “I have answered all questions truthfully.”
Background
In 2019, the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) invested US$2 million for a 10% stake in Africa Investor Skytrain Consortium Holdings (“Ai Skytrain”), the company developing Accra’s Skytrain light Railway Project.
The Africa Investor Group (the “Sponsors”) was selected and granted the rights to develop the project by the Government of Ghana (“GoG”) through the Ministry of Railways Development (“MORD”).
At the time, the Chairman of GIIF was Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was Mr Solomon Asamoah. The Chairman had previously been a member of the GoG. Mr. Asamoah was an international development banker who had been headhunted for the position by a UK recruitment agency.
Following a change of government in Ghana in December 2024, the GoG, through the office of the Attorney General of Ghana, now alleges that this action was taken without Board approval, resulting in a willful financial loss to the state, as there is as yet “no railway built”.
It should be noted that there are no allegations of personal gain or diversion of funds in the charges, and the state has not charged anyone from MORD or the GoG-selected sponsors; only the GIIF Chairman and CEO have been charged.
The state witnesses who initially faced charges of causing financial loss to the state themselves dropped these charges after stating they did not approve the project, casting significant doubt on the reliability of their statements.
The prosecution’s case is built almost entirely on these statements to show that a legitimate transaction was “unauthorized”, without which there would be no case to answer.
“The prosecution’s case appears to be politically motivated, intended to fulfill a campaign promise to prosecute members of the previous government. It is unsupported by the facts, relying on demonstrably false witness statements,” a lawyer familiar with the case stated on condition of anonymity.
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