The second accused person in the case in which three former officials of the Kumasi branch of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) are being tried for allegedly stealing ?982 million from the vault of the bank, has denied ever meeting the witness in whose presence he wrote his caution statement.

The accused, Simon Kwadjei said the witness, Mr Martin Narbe was an imposter brought by the prosecution to testify against him.

Kwadjei was being cross-examined by the Chief State Attorney, Mr Anthony Gyambiby, at a mini-trial at an Accra Fast Tract High Court last Wednesday. The mini-trial is to determine the admissibility of the statements taken from kwadjei, the then Bank Manager and the third accused, Samuel Ellis-Obir, the former Issuing Manager when they were brought from Kumasi to the Accra offices of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) on March 31, 000. Jointly charged was the former Regional Manager of the Bank, Mrs Janet Gyimah Kessie, the first accused in the case.

Messrs Nelson Agbesi and Nana Konadu Yiadom, counsel for second and third accused persons respectively, during the substantive trial objected to the prosecution tendering statements in evidence.

According to them the statements were written under duress and there was no independent witness at the time of writing. When asked by Mr Gyambiby why he failed to challenge the identity of Mr Barbe when he came to testify before the court, Mr Nelson Agbesi who is the counsel for Kwadjei answered that they did. But Mr Gyambiby referred him to the fact that, apart from demanding the identity cared of Mr Barbe, which he produced, they could not do anything to prove that he was fraud or an impostor; ?But the BNI is capable of anything,? retorted Mr Agbesi.

This, statement however, drew a sharp protest from Mr Gyambiby and demanded a retraction. This, Agbesi did on the orders of the presiding judge, Justice Mrs Margaret Insaidoo. According to Kwadjei the statement was forced out of him by Inspector Addae, their investigator. He continued that he was put in a room alone and it was only Inspector Addae who came in from time to time to write information on a piece of paper for him to include in the statement.

When Mr Gyambiby referred him to the portion which he claimed was written by Mr Addae and asked whether he read it over before copying and signing he replied in the negative.