Konadu says image was
battered by trial
Accra, Jan. 15, Ghanadot/GNA – Nana
Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, former First Lady, on
Thursday said her image as well
as her co-accused in the case against them in the
divestiture of the Nsawam Cannery were “battered
beyond recognition” during the trial which has been
abandoned by the former government.
“My reputation amongst my peers (has been) sullied
and my family abused both locally and
internationally because many were convinced their
mum was a criminal,” she said in a statement after
the Accra Fast Track High Court struck out charges
of theft, fraud and conspiracy to defraud the state
brought against them three years ago.
Mr Emmanuel Agbodo, Mr Thomas Benson Owusu, Mr Kwame
Peprah and Ms Sherry Aryitey who were also facing
similar charges have also had their charges dropped.
Nana Konadu said her understanding was that former
President John Agyekum Kufuor gave the order for the
discontinuation of the case on the eve of his
departure from office.
She said: “The purchase of Nsawam Cannery by Caridem,
which was the transaction in question, was executed
without any element of criminality and my colleagues
and I always wondered how the state expected to
prove its case against us.”
She said a proper bidding process was put in place
for the sale and Caridem won through due process
because it was the highest bidder.
Nana Konadu said the World Bank supervised the
entire bidding process, so it was a huge shock to
them when the NPP government decided to prosecute
and persecute them over a process that was already
10 years old.
She said having purchased the Nsawam Cannery,
Caridem sought assistance from major financiers some
of whom had done due diligence and were on the verge
of making payments for the factory to resume
operations.
“These institutions withdrew their support soon
after 30 charges were preferred against us over a
purported discovery of major discrepancies in the
sale of the cannery,” she said.
“I wonder on what basis John Kufuor decided to
discontinue the case on his last day in office. This
same man was the initiator of court proceedings
against us but on his departure from office he chose
to score cheap and shameless political points with
my fundamental human rights as if he owned my life,”
Nana Konadu added.
She said at some point during the process they were
resigned to their fate “knowing that the powers that
be had no plans of capitulating”.
“Having excelled in ensuring that all cases against
members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC)
led to imprisonment we were like lambs being led to
the slaughter.
“We definitely were not expecting a fair judgement
at the end of the day but are convinced that the
case was withdrawn at the last minute because
ex-President Kufuor having failed to perpetuate his
party’s stay in power and knowing that he will be
exposed if the case continued under this government
decided to discontinue the case.”
Nana Konadu said “millions of dollars had gone down
the drain as we defended ourselves in court while
the project was put on hold; the taxpayers’ money
had been wasted pursuing this exercise in futility”.
Nana Konadu said, had it been another government the
previous Attorney General would probably have been
prosecuted for wilfully causing financial loss to
the state.
She said their legal team had been asked to prepare
a detailed report for the general public “to
appreciate the disdain the previous government had
for our liberties and its quest to tarnish our
reputations at whatever cost”.
“I am not discounting the possibility of bringing
charges against Kufuor and all those who
individually and collectively colluded to persecute
us, abuse our fundamental human rights, destroy our
hard won reputations and lose us potential revenue
from the operation of the cannery,” she added.
GNA
