Short bows out

Justice Francis Emile Short is the Commissioner of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ)in Ghana

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday April 6, 2010
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has suspended indefinitely, its investigations into allegations of corruption in respect of the operations of the Marbey and Johnson in Ghana.

A terse news release titled ‘Suspension of investigations’ issued in Accra and signed for Akosua Edu, Head of Public Relations on behalf of the Commissioner of CHRAJ, Justice Francis Emile Short said “kindly be informed that the Commission has suspended the above-mentioned investigations indefinitely because of the application for Judicial Review pending in the High Court against the Commission.”

It will be recalled that on March 28, CHRAJ was expected to deliver a ruling on the preliminary objections raised by some lawyers representing the individuals alleged to have received huge sums of bribes from the UK based construction company, Marbey and Johnson (M & J) but could not do so.

The inability of the Commission chaired by Justice Short to deliver the ruling was because counsel for former Finance and Economic Planning Minister under the Jerry Rawlings regime, Kwame Peprah had managed to put a stopper on not just the ruling on the preliminary objection but CHRAJ’s ability to investigate the whole case.

The lawyer, Samuel Cudjoe sought to prohibit CHRAJ from ruling on the matter since he has filed an application at the High Court in which he is seeking to prohibit CHRAJ from investigating the M & J bribery scandal.

The application which was filed on March 26, 2010 bothered on comments the Commissioner was purported to have made on Metro TV which according to Mr. Peprah’s lawyer are prejudiced.

He quoted Article 212 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic which prohibits a Commission from sitting on a case pending before a court to support his claim and therefore prayed the Commission to suspend its ruling until the High Court finally determines the case.

Aside that Mr. Cudjoe still insisted that CHRAJ as a body has no mandate to investigate the M & J bribery scandal and therefore asked it to stay away from delving into the bribery scandal.

Though Justice Short was initially jittery about the lawyer’s concern, he eventually succumbed after Mr. Cudjoe offered reasons with references cases to buttress his point.

Counsel for the rest of the accused with the exception of Dr George Adja Sipa Yankey, Kwame Gyan associated themselves with Mr. Cudjoe’s objection, stressing the belief that a ruling on the subject matter would in one way or the other undermine the decision of the High Court.

The Commission was thus compelled by prevailing circumstance to adjourn sitting until April 7, 2010.

The M&J scandal involves six current and former government appointees including former Finance Minister, Kwame Peprah, now board chairman for Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Alhaji Baba Kamara, Ghana’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, sacked Minister of state at the Office of the President, Alhaji Amadu Seidu, Dr Ato Quarshie, a former minister of Roads and Highways who received the largest chunk of the bribe money, former Water Resources, Works and Housing Minister, Alhaji Saddique Boniface in the NPP administration, former Minister of Health, Dr. George Adja-Sipa Yankey, and Edward Lord Attivor, currently Acting Managing Director of Intercity STC.

Mr. Attivor was Board chairman of STC at the time he allegedly took the M&J bribe.

The NDC officials who mostly served in Jerry Rawlings administration and carried over to the Atta Mills administration are accused of taking bribes totaling over £750,000, when M&J took up contracts to build bridges in Ghana in the 1990s.

From the mid 1980s until approximately 1996, M&J’s interests in Ghana were represented by one Kwame Ofori, also known as Danny Ofori-Atta who controlled a Ghanaian bridge-building company, and apparently had influence within the circles of the then ruling NDC government.

It is accepted by M&J that through the creation of the Ghana Development Fund (GDF), its executives facilitated corruption on behalf of the company and that they were in (or sought to create) a corrupt relationship with a variety of decision making Ghanaian public officials.

These funds were purportedly for the development of M&J business in Ghana but, in reality, were capable of and were understood to be capable of, being used for corrupt purposes.Mr. Peprah was at that time Minister of Finance.

The role of Baba Kamara and his value as an agent to M&J is made clear in a document authored by a M&J executive, probably prior to July 1996, and sent to its Directors.

Dr. Ato Quarshie, according to the report, received a cheque when he visited London in July 1995 in the sum of £55,000 for supposed ‘contract consultancy’ when he was the Minister of Roads and Highways.

This cheque was drawn on M&J’s Clydesdale Bank account at the Victoria branch in Buckingham Palace Road, and signed by two of the company’s Directors.

It was therefore the case of the prosecution that the payment to Dr. Quarshie and the following payments were but examples of a series of bribes to various ministers and officials.

Other relatively junior officials who were also alleged to have received some of the bribes included Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, then an ECGD desk officer at the Ministry of Finance.

On or about 29 October 1996 Amadu Seidu, the Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Roads and Highways, received £5000 in his Woolwich account held in St. Peter Port, Guernsey.

Dr. George Yankey the Director of Legal and International Affairs at the Ministry of Finance, received £10,000 in his Midland Bank account in Hill Street, London W1; and Edward Lord Attivor, also received £10,000 in his London bank account.

Interestingly it was the same branch of the Clydesdale Bank which was used by M&J.

Amadu Seidu received a further £5,000 on 7 March 1997, the same date on which Saddique Boniface received a further £2,500.

Although the amount was relatively small, the prosecution noted that it is indicative of the nature of the corruption M&J was then practicing.

M&J's payments to Dr. Yankey were not confined to the payment on or about 24th October 1996, since his Hill Street account received additional £5,000 on 26 August 1998 from M&J.

Following the revelations, Dr. Yankey resigned his position as Health Minister, ostensibly to clear his name in the matter. And in the heat of the brouhaha, Alhaji Amadu Seidu was dropped as Minister of state at the Office of President Mills, even though it was not clear why he was removed.

A potential appointee to the High Commission to Nigeria, Alhaji Baba Kamara, was however confirmed. Dr Ato Quarshie also resigned his position as a chairman of a team tasked to probe the Metro Mass Transit while Lord Attivor and Kwame Peprah have since held on to their positions as STC MD and SSNIT Board Chairman respectively.

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