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Former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the erstwhile Kufuor administration, Akwasi Osei Adjei, who was charged with causing financial loss to the state for importing rice that could not be traced, has been acquitted and discharged by a Comercial Court in Accra. Mr. Osei and the former Managing Director of the National Investment Bank, Daniel Charles Gyimah, who were charged for their roles in the importation of rice from India, were on February 25 cleared of six charges of conspiracy, stealing, willfully causing financial loss to the state and using public office for profit. The two were accused of importing some 300,000 bags of rice from India between April 2008 and February 2009, out of which, according to the prosecution, 2,997 of those bags were diverted, leading to a financial loss of some GH�1.5 billion to the state. The two officials were acquitted and discharged on the two counts of Conspiracy to Contravene the Public Procurement Act and Contravention of the Public Procurement Act.