CHRAJ ‘Underestimated’ PPA Boss’ Cash

Adjenim Boateng Adjei

THE Special Prosecutor (SP), Martin Amidu, has stated that the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) appears to have miscalculated the amounts of money disclosed by the sacked Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Adjenim Boateng Adjei.

According to Mr. Amidu, bank statements from the three accounts of the PPA Boss showed there were more cash omitted by CHRAJ.

He said the anti-graft body “underestimated” the monies involved as “exhaustively reviewed by the Auditor General for the SP’s Office.

Data provided by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) and analysed by CHRAJ put the total transaction during the period within which Mr. Adjei assumed office at GH¢14.8 million, a combined figure from four USD and Euro accounts held at two banks.

Updating the Office of the President on the investigation on Mr. Adjei’s case, Mr. Amidu however said calculations and analysis put the closing balance of deposits made by the former PPA boss from 2017 to August 19, 2019 at GH¢15,691,559.30, US$ 4,467,655.00 and €54,500.00

“You will also see that the monthly deposits/receipts into Mr. Adjei’s account between 2015 and 2016 ranged from GH¢9,000 to GH¢118,000 and $200 to $1000,” he stated.

No ‘Contract for Sale’ Investigation

The SP stated that his office never started the investigations into the “Contracts for Sale” allegations because of the attitude of the investigators into the ongoing investigation into the procurement malpractices the SP’s Office was handling before the referral from the Presidency.

“This explains why Mr. Manasseh Azure has still not been invited to make a witness statement (I attach herewith a review of the bank statements of Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei excluding the names of persons who handled the transaction in the three banks to show the real deposits made into his bank accounts during his two and half years in office at the Public Procurement Authority,” he wrote to the Office of the President.

He said he stated at page 54 of his analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment of the “Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions and Other Related Matters Thereto” report that his office was also investigating the National Lotteries Authority, and Charles Bissue.

“The Members of Parliament Vehicle Loan Affair which affects Members of Parliament from both sides of Parliament is still pending, a decision whether or not to prosecute due to unjustifiable delay by seconded staff in carrying out instructions for clarification of certain pertinent issues,” he added.

By Ernest Kofi Adu

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