Thomas Amu Amankwah, number three defense witness (DW3) in a cocoa trial, has boldly told an Accra Criminal High Court that he will not stop campaigning for Lithovit liquid fertilizer.

The witness repeatedly said the Lithovit liquid fertilizer has proven to be one of the most effective fertilizers purchased and supplied to farmers by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).

Under intense cross-examination by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Yvonne Attakora-Obuobisa today, the witness stated to the court presided over by Justice Clemence Honyenuga that whoever claims the Lithovit liquid fertilizer is a worthless agro product might be referring to something else.

DW3 indicated to the court that his claim is supported by the cocoa passbook that each year records of cocoa beans sold and monies paid to him as a farmer are kept.

Mr. Amankwah said he has even gone further to keep records of fertilizers supplied to him by the COCOBOD, including the quantity every year.

But the DPP brought the integrity of DW3’s passbook under heavy scrutiny, saying the book content is a make-up of manipulations, insertions, and missing pages.

She added that the book has signatures that are visibly not similar, hence rendering the cocoa passbook suspicious of what it is worth.

According to her, about four pages -5, 6, 7, and 8 -are missing from the passbook, and per the markings of staplers and perflated holes in the document, it was clear that the witness allegedly put the said book together only to deceive the court.

The DPP also added that the witness could not explain to the court some details such as codes in the passbook, which he has tendered in evidence, and in fact, there was no record from the prosecution checks showing that Mr. Amu owns a cocoa farm at Baidan.

In response, the witness said it was never the truth that he has manipulated the passbook to throw the dust into the eyes of the court and he would standby whatever testimony he has given.

The court is trying Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni, former boss of COCOBOD, together with businessman Seidu Agongo and his company, Agricult Ghana Limited on some 27 counts including a financial loss to the state.