In the libel suit instituted by the Former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, against Baby Ansabah, Gina Blay and Western Publications, the publishers of Daily Guide, the Attorney General, who was expected to appear and testify before the Fast Tract Court on Wednesday, 17th May, failed to turn up.

When the case was called, an embarrassing moment occurred when council for Daily Guide, Godfred Dame, stood up and announced that his witness, being the Attorney General, was ready to mount the witness when it was clear that the Attorney General was not in Court. No reason was given by him for the failure of the Attorney General to turn up in court even thought was upon his subpoena that he was expected to attend court. The presiding Judge, Mrs. Iris May Brown, however saved the situation when she said that there had been a problem with the drafting of her orders, which she had corrected, but was not sure whether it had been re-typed and served on the Attorney General on time.

The Former First Lady had sued the Defendants for libel in respect of a publication in the Daily Guide headlined ?MILKING THE SACRED COW. Konadu Owes the State C2.8 Billion?. On the last adjourned date, the Auditor General, who was expected to be cross-examined by Tony Lithur, Council for the Former First Lady, failed to turn up, and sent some written excuse that he would be unavailable on State duties for a period of 3 weeks. Faced with the Auditor General?s excuse letter, Justice Iris May Brown ordered hearing notice to be served on the Attorney General to appear in Court to testify instead. The Attorney General had also been subpoenaed by the Defendants to testify for them.

During the initial cross-examination of the Auditor General, he brought up the issue of the divestiture of Nsawam Cannery to Caridem, which is now the subject matter of the criminal prosecution of the Former First Lady and eight others at the Fast Tract Court. The Auditor General stated on oath under cross-examination by Mr. Tony Lithur, that the Government of Ghana was bent on taking the Nsawam Cannery from Caridem, and that he supported the move. He also admitted that even though he had written a letter to 31st December Women?s Movement in 2001, informing them that he had started an audit of all NGOs in Ghana, the 31st December Women?s Movement was the only one that he had audited to date. It was therefore suggested to him that his audit was a witch hunt, which he denied.

This evidence was given by the Auditor General before the charges were brought against the Former First Lady and 8 others, most of them connected to Caridem. Interestingly, the Auditor General is also the State?s star witness in the criminal trial against the Former First Lady, Kwame Peprah, the Former Finance Minister, Emmanuel Agbodo, the Former Executive Secretary of the Divestiture Implementation Committee, Larry Adjetey, a senior legal practitioner and the Principal Law Trust Company as well as the son of the Former Speaker of Parliament, Peter Ala Adjetey, Georgina Okaiteye and George Mould, all directors of Caridem. It would be revealing to find out whether he will be available to testify for the state on the 29th of May when the criminal trial is expected to commence. Meanwhile, information received suggests that the Auditor General was in his Office on the day that he was expected to attend court.

The Presiding Judge then ordered that both the Attorney General should appear in court on the 5th of June, when the trial is expected to resume.

VICTOR SMITH - DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS