The case against the ex-NCA officials takes a new turn with high-ranking officials of the National Security under the Mahama administration stating firmly that the Pegasus equipment purchase was not essential.

Alhaji Baba Kamara, former National Security Advisor to Ex-President Mahama, has stated on the record that, at the time of the transaction, Ghana did not need the cyber security equipment.

Chief Inspector Michael Nkrumah, the investigator in the trial of Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, the former board chairman of the NCA, and four others, informed the court during Baba Kamara’s cross-examination that although he (Baba Kamara) was aware of the purchase, he did not know that it was Pegasus cybersecurity equipment.

“He (Baba Kamara) told me that the country did not require the equipment because he was the then National Security Advisor and he didn’t know how the equipment was purchased. He told me he advised the President on national security matters and if the need had arisen, he would have advised the President in that direction,” the court heard.

Chief Inspector Michael Nkrumah added that Yaw Donkor, the National Security Coordinator at the time, confirmed Baba Kamara’s position that the equipment was needed then.

During the cross-examination by Abu Juan, who held brief for Thaddeus Sory, counsel for Mr. Baffoe-Bonnie, the witness also told the court that there was no record of the contract between the NCA and Infraloks Development Limited (IDL) for the supply of the said equipment.

Godwin Tamakloe, counsel for the defendant William Tetteh-Tevie, challenged the witness with minutes of an NCA board meeting which indicated the board’s approval of certain payments some months after they were made.

The lawyer then put it to the witness that prior board approval is not the basis for executing contracts at the NCA.

Chief Inspector Nkrumah discredited the claim, saying the presence of a board support for those contracts ensured the approvals.

The defendants, Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, William Tetteh-Tevie, Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman, Nana Owusu Ensaw, and George Derek Oppong have been charged and arraigned for willfully causing financial loss to the State contrary to section 23(1) and section 179(3)(a) of the Criminal Offences Act 1960, Act 29.

ZuvielNaazie/techvoiceafrica.com