GRi Press Review
11 - 07 - 2001
'I spent
$32,000 on my two children yearly'
SFO clears
AGC…of any shady deal
There were
no witnesses …to contract - Selormey
2 ammo
thieves were cops' sons
U.S
agencies probe Selormey's ¢2 billion transfer
UK
Parliament debates 'scam' loan to Ghana
Cape Vars
bosses stab students in the back
Say no to
unfavourable conditions - Harrold
NDC was
fraudulent …says IMF
SIB records
are missing
Time to
leave Sahara Desert
Ex-Convict
runs amok in Hospital
'I spent
$32,000 on my two children yearly'
The former
Deputy Minister of Finance, Victor Selormey, on Tuesday told the Fast Track
High Court in Accra, trying him for alleged financial impropriety that he spent
between $15,000 and $16,000 a year on each of his two children whom he sent to
the United States of America to pursue university education in 1996.
He told the
court under cross-examination by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mr
Osafo Sampong that he paid tuition of about $10,000 a year per child, while
their accommodation cost was around $4,000 each year.
According
to him, these were financed by himself and the wife while his children
supplemented by doing various jobs to generate additional income.
Selormey is
said to have conspired with one Dr Fredrick Owusu-Boadu, a Ghanaian consultant
in the United States of America, to fraudulently cause the loss of $1,297,500
to the state.
He has
pleaded not guilty to six counts of conspiracy, defrauding by false pretence
and willfully causing financial loss to the state and has been granted bail in
the sum of ¢1.5 billion with two sureties to be justified.
He told the
court, presided over by Mr Justice Sam Baidoo, an Appeal Court judge, that his
children, a boy and a girl, stayed with Dr Owusu-Boadu in the United States for
one month before moving out into rented premises, adding that one of his
children has completed the course while the other would complete next year.
With
regards to the agreement between Leebda and the Government of Ghana on the
court computerization project, which according to the prosecution, did not
exist, witness said he signed a contract to that effect but left the document
in his office after the change of government.
More…/
SFO clears
AGC…of any shady deal
The Serious
Fraud Office (SFO) has exonerated the management of the Ashanti Goldfields
Company (AGC), from any act that could have led to financial loss to the state.
Consequently,
the SFO has closed its investigations into the activities of the company.
A letter
from the SFO to the Attorney-General's office said there was no evidence of
collusion or criminal intent to commit fraud by the company.
It noted
that the SFO did not establish any criminal act of financial mismanagement or
manipulation, irregularity or impropriety, or commission of fraud that has
caused or likely to cause financial or economic loss to the AGC in which the
Government of Ghana has financial interest.
The
Attorney-General has subsequently informed the AGC of the development.
A letter to
that effect noted, among other things, that the Attorney-General is "happy
that this whole matter has been finally put to rest and wishes you and your
company all the best in your endeavours".
In May,
last year, the SFO directed the AGC to submit a copy of the management contract
between Lonmin and the AGC to assist in its investigations.
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There were
no witnesses …to contract - Selormey
Victor
Selormey, former Deputy Minister of Finanace on Tuesday admitted before the Fast
Track Court that there were no witnesses to the contract he signed on behalf of
the Government with Leebda Corporation of Texas, in the United States,
according to the Ghanaian Times.
He was
being cross-examined by the prosecution after concluding his defence in the
case.
Selormey is
facing trial for allegedly conspiring with Dr Frederick Owusu-Boadu, a
consultant with Leebda Corporation, to defraud and willfully cause financial
loss of $1,297,500 dollars to the state.
He said
that the signing of the contract should have been witnessed by Mr Dan Abodakpi,
former Minister of Trade and Transport, but Mr Abodakpi failed to turn up for
the signing, while Leebda Corporation represented by Dr Boadu did not produce
any witnesses either.
Selormey
told the court that he left the contract in the office before leaving his post,
but evidence has been led in court by the prosecution to show that the contract
document could not be traced at the former Deputy Minister's office.
More…/
2 ammo
thieves were cops' sons
Two of the
students of the Adisadel College at Cape Coast involved in the theft of
ammunition from the Central Regional Police armoury have been identified to be
children of police personnel.
They are
Stephen Atsu Kudoto 18, and John Aboagye Gyimah, 20, who is on the run.
The
students are sons of Chief Inspector M.V.K. Kudoto, stationed at the cape Coast
Regional Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and Deputy Police
Commissioner (DPC) Owusu Nsiah, Quarter Master General at the Police
Headquarters in Accra.
The
Regional Police Commander, Mr George Obeng, disclosed these at Cape Coast
stating that the two students were the brains behind the deal.
Mr Obeng
said on June 25, Kudoto teamed up with Gyimah and together with the other three
students, jumped a six-feet wall outside the Regional Police Workshop and broke
into the armoury with a chisel.
The
students took 82 'Thunder shots' in white boxes, packed them into a black
traveling bag and sped off.
Kudoto's
house is just 10 metres away from the Regional Workshop where the incident took
place.
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U.S
agencies probe Selormey's ¢2 billion transfer
The
Dispatch says its ongoing investigations have revealed that the University of
Texas A&M, College Station, Texas has started the process of investigating
how one of its lecturers, Dr Fred Owusu Boadu, used the University's letterhead
to invoice the Ghanaian government an amount of U.S. $300,000 (about 2.1
billion). The amount was transferred to Dr Boadu in payment for a feasibility
report that was not presented.
The
University's worry is that its letterhead has been abused since it was not a
party to the contract.
The US tax
authorities are also investigating various payments to Dr Boadu. A couple of
them were authorized by the former deputy Minister for Finance, Victor
Selormey.
In an
e-mail message, the Vice-President of the University in-charge of Administration,
Mr Charles A. Sippal, Snr., has asked for a copy of the invoice on "the
Texas A&M Letterhead to allow further investigations into this matter.
Mr
Sippial's e-mail, copied to other officials including the University's
Associate Vice-President, Ms Mary E. Miller, was in response to various
enquiries as to why the University's letterhead was used when it was not a
party to the contract.
The
$300,000 was part of a total of $400,000 (about ¢2.8 billion) paid to Dr Boadu
as payments for a feasibility study into the establishment of a Science and
Technology Valley to supposedly promote public private sector partnership for
economic growth in Ghana.
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UK
Parliament debates 'scam' loan to Ghana
A member of
the British parliament has tabled a series of parliamentary questions relating
to the involvement of the UK government's Export Credits Guarantee Department
(ECGD) in the guaranteeing of a loan intended for the building of the La Palm
Royal Beach Hotel in 1994, reports The Ghanaian Chronicle.
Dr Vincent
Cable, MP, the minority Liberal Democrat spokesman for Trade and Industry,
asked the erstwhile President for the Board of Trade, Stephens Byers, MP in the
House of Commons whether he would inquire into the circumstances under which
the ECGD provided credit cover to a hotel project in Ghana.
Probed
further, Mr Byers was asked 'What steps have been taken by the ECGD to ensure
that the funds were used for the purposes for which they wee intended?
In an
e-mail to the Chronicle, Dr Cable explained that his questions had been
prompted by a tip-off that the project was a scam in which the ECGD had
sponsored a project which benefited that ex-president's (Rawlings) wife but had
not resulted in any development.
In a
written reply, Mr Byers stated that the ECGD had since carried out extensive
enquiries into this project, the results of which were passed to the UK's
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DT)
Companies Investigation Branch.
He noted
that the DTI and SFO informed ECGD that they did not consider these cases
suitable for investigation owing to the difficulty in finding a criminal
offence that had occurred within UK jurisdiction, which they could investigate
and prosecute.
He did
however confirm that should the Ghanaian authorities wish to investigate the
case, the ECGD, DTI and SFO will cooperate with them in any way possible.
More…/
Cape Vars
bosses stab students in the back
The highest
decision-making body of the University of Cape Coast, on Tuesday crept behind
students, most of whom are on recess, and dropped letters in pigeon holes
virtually rusticating them from the school. The action is a punishment for
students protest over the grading system.
First on
the list is the current President of the National Union of Ghana Students
(NUGS), Mr Annor Dompreh, the 23 year-old who has come to personify the
campaign against the much condemned grading system which has received
widespread media criticism and discussions even in Parliament.
Even before
the issue was conclusively dealt with by Parliament which raised it less than a
week ago, the University Authorities, slipped the letters imposing suspensions
ranging from three to six years on the students.
Their crime
was that they had demonstrated against the system during last year's
convocation and partially disturbed the ceremony.
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Say no to
unfavourable conditions - Harrold
The Country
Director of the World Bank, Mr Peter Harrold has said that the governments must
have the will to say no to conditions of donor partners that are at variance
with their economic policies, reports The Evening News.
"The
Country is yours and you must be able to say what is good for you," he
stated.
Mr Harrold
was answering questions from members of the Parliamentary Finance Committee
after delivering a keynote address at a two-day workshop on public finance at
Akosombo at the weekend.
He said the
Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) was an acknowledgement of the
high debt burden hanging on African countries and the need to help them out of
it.
African
countries, he said, must not get into the habit of spending monies they do not
have. They must wait for monies to arrive because government borrowing from the
domestic market raises interest rates and discourages private sector
development.
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NDC was
fraudulent …says IMF
The
International Monetary Fund, IMF, has issued a press release, which more than
anything nails the government of the NDC as a party without integrity, writes
The Accra Mail, with a publication of the full text of the release.
Press
release number 01/32 dated June 28, 2001 reportedly, exposes the NDC government
as a falsifier of figures. In other words a fraudulent government, says the
paper.
Fraud, the
story contained, has been perpetrated on a grand scale by the NDC and the new
government has to pick up the pieces and try to stem the chaos.
The IMF has
not lost sight of the new government's efforts and has acknowledged it in the
same press release.
The Mail
questions why Rawlings was the darling boy of the West and why Ghana was
presented as a showcase of success when fraud was being perpetrated on such a
serious matter as a country's economy.
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SIB records
are missing
The Weekly
Insight says the attempt to reopen investigations into the murder of the three
high court judges and the retired army officer is most likely to take a jolt
because the record of proceedings cannot be found.
Sources
close to the Attorney-General's office which should have been the custodian of
the records say that the records are not available there.
Independent
investigations carried out by the paper have confirmed that the tape recordings
of the proceedings were not handed over to the then Attorney-General, Justice
Aikins.
The Special
Investigations Board (SIB), which investigated the murders, only handed over
their report to the Attorney-General without the full record of proceedings.
Why the SIB
refused or failed to hand over the record of proceedings to the
Attorney-General has not been fully explained and it is believed that it may
hamper efforts to reopen the case.
A number of
prominent Ghanaians, including Mr Johnny F.S. Hansen, former Minister of
Interior, Mr Justice A.E.K. Aikins, former Attorney-General and Mr Kwabena
Agyapong, Deputy Government Spokesperson, have called for the reopening of the
case.
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Time to
leave Sahara Desert
Veteran
journalist, Kabral Blay Amiehere, writing in The Independent says if Every
Ghanaian Living Everywhere (EAGLE) ever thought the Sahara Desert was a mirage
and faraway, that EAGLE must have changed his mind by now with all the media
focus on the Sahara oil deal.
According
to him, "We must praise the press or a section of the press which thought
it fit to question the deal. After all, this time in this journalism business,
when people read all kinds of motives into what journalists write or do not
write, I will be the first person to dismiss any thinking that those who have
spoken or written against Sahara did so under the influence of ‘White Polythene
bags’ or any other colour."
Kabral says
having said that he believes the nation must put the Sahara matter behind it
and the media, in its agenda setting role, begin to ask questions that will
bear on the nation's growth.
"Some
may want to do and are doing politics with the Sahara issue. Some are giving
politics such a bad name by raising hell even when all they see is heaven and
its splendour. That is expected. But for the suffering people of Ghana, our
prayer should be that the Sahara matter should be put to rest unless anybody
can produce new evidence that shows that Kan Dapaah as Minister of Energy or
any agent of his acted in bad faith", writes Kabral.
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