Kissi Agyebeng
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has dragged James Keck Osei, the Administrator at the Office of former Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, and three others for corruption and related offences in connection with some seized rice imported from Thailand.
He has been charged alongside Issah Seidu, a staff at the National Insurance Commission; John Abban, and Peter Archibald Hyde, all senior Customs officers at the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
Among the accusations against the accused is the use of fake documents and letters from the Office of the Vice President to clear the container from the Tema Port.
Issah Seidu, James Keck Osei, John Abban, and Peter Archibald Hyde have been formally charged with corruption after allegedly conspiring to hijack ten containers of imported rice at Tema Port.
The rice, imported from Thailand in 2022, was fraudulently claimed by Seidu using fake documents and a letter falsely issued from the Office of the Vice President.
Seidu and Osei allegedly teamed up with Abban and Hyde, who are two senior Customs officials, to override Customs processes and secure the goods.
Despite the rice being legally imported and duties paid, the group tried to auction the containers to Seidu. Their alleged plot collapsed after internal investigations and a High Court ruling exposed the scheme.
The four are expected to appear before a High Court on June 27, 2025, where their pleas will be taken and arguments made for the grant of bail.
It is recalled that the OSP dragged the four before a High Court in February 2023 for failing to comply with a notice to declare their properties and income.
They were each charged with one count of failing to comply with a lawful demand of an authorised officer of the Office of the Special Prosecutor in the performance of his functions, contrary to section 69(1)(a) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) and Regulation 20(2) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (Operations) Regulations, 2018 (L.I. 2374).
The accusations revolve around the importation of 10,000 metric tons of Lele rice from Thailand which were not immediately cleared by the importer because of a delay in getting the bill of lading.
The goods were therefore sent to uncleared cargo list (UCL) where it could later be auctioned if the importer fails to take steps to get the goods cleared over a period of time.
During the bail hearing in that matter, the court was told that the importer upon receipt of the bill of lading then proceeded to get his goods cleared.
However, when he went to the state warehouse to take delivery of his goods, he was informed that Issah Seidu had also come to lay claim to the same goods.
Seidu allegedly presented documents indicating that the goods were imported by him and that he imported them from Vietnam and not from Thailand as stated by the petitioner.
The matter was referred to the Customs Office for resolution and a Deputy Commissioner was asked to look into the issue and report back.
It was found that the document presented by Seidu were fake, and that it was the petitioner who was the owner of the goods and should be allowed to clear them.
Instructions were therefore, given for the release of the goods to the petitioner, but Seidu upon hearing about the instruction rushed to court to file a civil suit against the petitioner and Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), and thereafter sought to injunct them to prevent the GRA from releasing the goods to the petitioner.
It was at this point that the petitioner said he had come across documents from the Office of the Vice President addressed to the Commissioner of Customs to release the goods imported by the petitioner to Seidu because the Office of the Vice President wanted to use the rice for Ramadan.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak