The High Court in Tamale has ordered all four defendants in the Northern Development Authority (NDA) trial by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to open their defence.

The High Court in Tamale has ordered all four defendants in the Northern Development Authority (NDA) case by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to open their defence.

The accused persons are Sumalia Abdul-Rahman, CEO of the NDA; Stephen Yir-eru Engmen, Deputy Chief Executive (Operations) of the NDA; Patrick Seidu, Deputy Chief Executive (Finance & Administration) of the NDA; and Andrew Kuundaari, CEO of A&QS Consortium Limited.

They face 11 charges related to corruption and procurement violations in the award and execution of contracts for the NDA.

A while ago in Court, the presiding judge ruled that the state has established a prima facie case against the accused individuals on all 11 counts, compelling them to present their defence.

The OSP brought charges against the four following its investigation prompted by whistleblowers.

The investigation revealed that the accused had violated procurement laws and engaged in corrupt practices.

According to the investigative report, Abdul-Rahman, Engmen, Seidu, and Kuundaari manipulated the procurement process to benefit A&QS unfairly in contracts for consultants under the Infrastructure for Poverty (IPEP) project by inflating the approved contract sum from GH₵5,720,000 to GH₵10,400,000 without proper authorisation.

Additionally, Kuundaari's submission of invoices for the inflated contract sum was deemed fraudulent.