Adu-Boahene trial: Court partially rejects disclosure request by accused persons
By DL news
Published
2 min read
Samuel Atta Akyea, the lawyer for Kwabena Adu-Boahen, his spouse Angela Adjei-Boateng, as well as the fourth accused, filed a motion asking the court to order the release of several items.
The High Court in Accra has turned down part of a request made by lawyers for the first and second accused in the ongoing National Signals Bureau (NSB) proceedings, citing that the prosecution either does not hold the requested documents or that the information is not relevant to the case.
Samuel Atta Akyea, the lawyer for Kwabena Adu-Boahen, his spouse Angela Adjei-Boateng, as well as the fourth accused, filed a motion asking the court to order the release of several items. These included a bill of lading for a BMW car, documents showing where the vehicle entered the country, and the police file associated with it.
Akyea argued that the bill of lading and similar materials were necessary to prove whether or not Adu-Boahen had imported a stolen car an issue central to the state’s allegations. He maintained that viewing these documents was vital to challenge what he referred to as an “unfortunate” storyline being pursued by prosecutors.
Opposing the motion, Deputy Attorney General Dr. Justice Srem-Sai said the request was based on a misunderstanding of the law. He explained that the bill of lading was not in the state’s custody and was probably with the accused, given that Adu-Boahen’s name appeared as both sender and receiver on the customs paperwork.
“The bill of lading is irrelevant and not in our possession. The customs declaration form already provides the necessary importation details,” he stated.
Justice John Eugene Nyante Nyadu, who delivered the ruling, determined that the first three items requested in the motion the bill of lading, the port of entry, and vehicle clearance papers had already been covered in a supplementary statement by prosecution witness Frank Cromwell.
Concerning the police docket, the judge observed that although the Attorney General’s department said it did not have the file, the Police CID had provided partial data from its records. As a result, Justice Nyante Nyadu denied the overall motion for more disclosures but issued an order:
“This court orders the Ghana Police Service to directly provide all relevant information in their possession concerning the BMW 740D with chassis number J020CM11428 to the defence team,” he ruled.
The proceedings will resume on July 31, 2025, for the hearing of another pending application.
