The Member of Parliament for Keta, Dan Abodakpi has been handed a 10-year jail term by an Accra Fast Track High Court. Justice S. T. Farkye found Mr. Abodakpi, a former Minister for Trade and Industry guilty and sentenced him on three counts of conspiracy, two counts of defrauding and two counts of willfully causing financial loss of $400,000 to the State. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges. Mr. Abodakpi was standing trial with the late Victor Selormey, a Former Deputy Finance Minister on the counts of conspiracy to commit crime; defrauding by false pretences and willfully causing a total loss of ¢2.73 billion to the State. The fraud was committed when Abodakpi and the late Victor Selormey co-chaired the Trade and Investment Program. They were said to have caused the transfer of $400,000 during his tenure in office as Minister from a TIP interest account lodged with ECOBANK Ghana Limited into the personal account of the project consultant, Dr. Frederick Boadu. The amount was in respect of a feasibility study for the establishment of a Science and Technology Community Park/Valley Project which was meant to enhance the export of non-traditional products. Prosecutors had argued that the accused did not do any feasibility study but rather paid the amount for a proposal. Meanwhile Deputy Minority Leader, Edward Doe Adjaho who is also a member of the Volta Region Caucus in Parliament has described the entire trial as politically motivated. Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Benjamin Kumbour has also described the judgment as a ‘travesty’ of justice. He wondered why the court will reject the defendant’s evidence as lacking merit. Some NDC members who had also thronged the court to witness the spectacle broke down in tears after the judgment was passed.