Members of the 31st December Women's Movement yesterday thronged an Accra Circuit Tribunal in their numbers to hear a case in which Ms. Sherry Ayittey, Director of Finance and Project of the movement, and Ralph Casely-Hayford, an engineer, are standing trial on charges of corruption and accepting bribe to the tune of over ?5 billion to influence a public officer.

The women, who stormed the courthouse as early as 7:30 am, were mostly from Nima and other Zongo communities in Accra.

The 31st December Women were all over the court premises; not knowing which court was trying the case.

The accused persons and their counsel as well as the anxious women went into a wrong court room presided over by Mrs. Anderson Yeboah and for over 45 minutes the case they expected to hear was not being called.

They were later informed that they were in the wrong courtroom and that the chairman of the circuit tribunal, Mr. Imoro Ziblim, would hear the case. The women, journalists and sympathisers then rushed out to take position in the courtroom.

Proceedings then started. The court clerk read the charges; Mr. Samuel Vanderpuye represented Ms. Sherry Ayittey.

She pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted ?500 million bail, while Casely-Hayford, who also pleaded not guilty, was granted ?100 million self-recognizant bail.

Casely-Hayford is accused of accepting bribe in the sum of ?60 million from one Dr. Albert Owusu Barnafo, a business consultant for Ghana Rubber Estate Limited (GREL), to influence Dan Abodakpi, ex-Minister of Trade and Industry, a public officer, to take a decision that will favour Societe Industrielle Plantation Heave (SIPH).

Counsel for Casely-Hayford, Rodney Heward-Mills, told the circuit tribunal presided over by Mr. Imoro Ziblim that the charge slapped on his client was completely false, and that the witness, Dr. Owusu Barnafo, who claimed that his client had collected the bribe from him, was a doubtful character who wanted to cover his tracks.

Counsel told the court that the State Security has been investigating witness on several charges, involving huge sums of money, and that Dr. Barnafo cannot therefore, be a credible witness against his client.

He submitted that there was no documentary evidence against his client, apart from what the witness intends to testify on in court.

Earlier on, Chief Inspector Patrick Sarpong, presenting the case, told the court that a French company, Societal Industrielle Plantation Heave (SIPH), showed interest in the acquisition of the Ghana Rubber Estate Limited (GREL), but they were facing some difficulties in the process of acquiring the company.

According to the prosecution, the French company engaged Dr. Barnafo as a consultant to assist them in the divestiture process of GREL.

He said following that the 31st December Women's Movement was, therefore, contacted, through a friend of Ms. Ayittey, to help in the divestiture of the company.

The third accused in the case is yet to be brought to court, but, according to the prosecution, the third accused convinced Ms. Ayittey to assist the French Company in the divestiture process on condition that he would be rewarded in the deal.

Prosecution said that Ms. Ayittey agreed to lend her support on condition that the French company would agree to pay $1 million to the 31st December Women through her account.

Chief Inspector Sarpong, told the court that the first accused began to manoeuvre and in due course she had several meetings with the DIC Executive Secretary and Mr. Dan Abodakpi.

He said Ms. Ayittey had a meeting with some Board members of the French company and management of GREL, on the divestiture of GREL before she emplaned to Paris in 1996, together with two of the witnesses in the case on the ticket of the French company to hold another meeting with the Board members.

According to the prosecution, a meeting was held in Accra in the office of the 31st December Women's Movement, where she received a total of $20,000 and subsequently received a total of $800,000 on different occasions out of the $1 million she requested.

Prosecution said that the witness, Barnafo, also needed the assistance of Mr. Abodakpi and the second accused was contacted to help in that direction.

He told the court that the second accused agreed to liaise between him and the witness.

According to the prosecution, the second accused, Casely-Hayford, collected ?60 million from the witness to be given to Mr. Abodakpi and took ?10 million for the role he played in the case.

Prosecution said that Mr. Abodakpi has denied ever receiving such amount.

The case has been adjourned to September 27.