The Accra High Court has dismissed an application by lawyers for the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO), Hanan Abdul-Wahab, seeking to strike out the entire charge sheet against him.

Instead, the court ordered the prosecution to amend only Counts 9 and 14 of the charge sheet, allowing the case to proceed.

Mr Abdul-Wahab and his wife, Faiza Wuni, are standing trial on 20 counts, including allegations of causing financial loss to the state.

The application was argued by the couple's lead counsel, former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame, who contended that the charge sheet was fundamentally defective and should be struck out in its entirety.

However, the court rejected that request, directing the prosecution to make amendments only to two counts.

Speaking to journalists after the ruling, Mr Dame expressed disappointment with the court's decision and announced that his legal team would appeal.

"Even though they've been ordered to amend some of the charges, we'll still file an appeal. We'll file an appeal against it," he said.

"I think the decision was not so sound, even with the greatest respect to the judge."

Mr Dame argued that several of the charges lacked sufficient details to enable the accused persons to properly defend themselves.

According to him, some counts referred to multiple payments without specifying when they were made, where they occurred or how they were connected.

"You cannot have various payments, the number of which we do not know, when each of them occurred we do not know, where they occurred we do not know; they are not disclosing it on the charge sheet, and then you say that you're not going to order them to amend and that charge is proper. That charge cannot be proper," he said.

He maintained that the charges should clearly identify the transactions being relied upon by the prosecution.

"You cannot have a sum of 50 million put together in one count and state in the same count that it consists of several payments. Which several payments? When did they take place? Are they related? Definitely they're not related," he said.

Mr Dame explained that the operations of the National Buffer Stock Company involve supplying food items to different institutions across the country, making it necessary for each transaction to be clearly identified.

"We know how Buffer Stock operates. It's actually the supply of foodstuffs to various institutions. So you can have one transaction affecting a school in the Northern Region and another transaction affecting another school in the Upper East Region or Upper West Region."

The former Attorney-General insisted that the appeal was intended to protect the rights of his client rather than delay the trial.

"My consideration professionally is to ensure that the rights of my client as an accused person are protected in every regard before the trial commences. It's not just a matter of delay or anything."

He noted that the trial could only be fair if the accused fully understood the charges against them.

"It's just a matter of ensuring that he properly ascertains the charges that are brought against him."

Using a boxing analogy, Mr Dame said that the current form of some of the charges left the accused at a disadvantage.

"He cannot be proceeding when his hands have been tied behind his back and his eyes blindfolded. Definitely, they cannot be blindfolding the accused person and ordering him to box in the dark."

Hanan Abdul-Wahab and his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni, are facing trial over allegations that they orchestrated a scheme to divert public funds meant for the National Buffer Stock Company and the School Feeding Programme for their personal benefit.

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