Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Friday, May 23, 2014
It has emerged at the Commission of Enquiry
investigating the payment of judgement debts that the government paid GH¢
1.1million to one Nana Kwame Bediako even though his name does not appear on a
contract document the state signed with a construction firm.
However, the Ministry of Roads and Highways appeared
before the commission to tender in evidence letters that indicated that the
said Nana Bediako of Wonder Properties was given a power of attorney to
negotiate on behalf of Messrs Sarroch Grandulati/Gelfi Joint Venture which was
arbitrating with the ministry concerning the construction of Asafo Market
interchange in Kumasi.
Yesterday, representatives from both the Bank of
Ghana (BoG) and the Controller & Accountant General’s Department testified on
the issue but none was able to point out the role played by Nana Bediako even
though, the two institution had processed the payment of the GH¢1.1million to
the claimant as judgement debt.
BoG’s
processing
Lesley Akrong, an Assistant Director at the Banking
Department of BoG flanked by Saviour Kudze of the Legal Department of BoG confirmed
that indeed the central bank processed the payment on the authorization of Controller
& Accountant General’s Department.
“We investigated and chanced upon some
correspondence from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the Attorney
General and Ministry of Justice and Awoonor Law Consultancy directing the Controller
to facilitate the payment and the cause of the payment was in respect of a
contract dispute between a joint venture company and the Ministry of Roads and
Highways.”
He said the directive was for the BoG to pay from
the account of the Ministry of Justice into Nana Bediako’s account at Zenith
Bank in respect of Sarroch Grandulati/Gelfi Joint Venture.
The
Controller
Andrews Kingsley Kwame Kufe, a Deputy Controller flanked
by Gomda Abdul Samad, a lawyer for the department said documents available
indicated that the request to pay GH¢1.1million judgement debt payment was made
in September 2010 and MoFEP directed them to process the payment.
He said the cost of payment was in respect of a
contract dispute. However, evidence at the commission showed that the sort of
dispute and the people involved were not stated.
Mr. Kufe said on the letter authorizing the payment,
it was clearly stated that GH¢2.3million should be released to Sarroch
Grandulati/Gelfi Joint Venture while the GH¢1.1million was given to Nana
Bediako.
Setting
Records Straight
The picture became clearer later, when Owusu Sekyere
Antwi, Director of Bridges at the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) testified and
explained to the commission how Nana Bediako’s name came into the transaction
and how he was paid GH¢1.1million.
He said letters written especially in 2010 by Sarroch
Grandulati/Gelfi Joint Venture stated clearly that they were appointing Awoonor
Law Consultancy as their lawyers and Nana Bediako, who some of their
correspondence described as a sub-contractor, as their power of attorney in the
arbitration process with the government.
He said the payments had been done on the
instructions of Sarroch Grandulati/Gelfi Joint Venture.
340,000
Palaver
The representative of the BoG also testified on the
payment of GH¢340,000 as compensation for land acquired by the government for
the Ministry of Food and Agriculture at Adaklu Abutia in the Volta Region.
Mr. Akrong said the central bank had the instruction
from the controller to pay the amount from a Canadian Grant Account into the
ministry’s account at ADB in Cedi House in 2010.
He said the GH¢340,000 was part payment of the
GH¢581,267 grant and added that the central bank was not privy to the names of
the beneficiaries of the amount authorized.
Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau then said the
commission was making arrangement to invite the Ministry of Food and
Agriculture to explain who benefitted from the amounts withdrawn.
The ‘Commission of Enquiry into the
payment of Judgement Debt and Akin’ under C.I. 79 to investigate the frivolous
and dubious payments of huge monies to undeserving individuals and companies,
was appointed by President John Dramani Mahama after public uproar over the
payments in what has now come to be termed as Judgement Debts (JD).
Notable among them were payments made to CP (€94
million) and the never-ending case of GH¢51.2million parted to the self-styled
National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, both of
which many believed were dubious and frivolous.
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