Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu & Rita Oduro
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
The lack of documents covering
compensation payment in respect of the Aveyime Livestock project in the Volta
Region has got the Sole-Commissioner investigating the payment of judgement
debts worried.
According to the Commission of Enquiry
presided over by Justice Yaw Apau of the Court of Appeal, even though the
Carmichael Family was paid about GH¢3.2million ($2.4) due to the government’s
take-over, there were no documents to indicate how Aveyime Livestock project
was confiscated.
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.
Payment
Instruction
On May 20, Kwadwo Awua-Peasah, the Ministry of
Finance and Economic Planning’s Director in charge of External Resource
Mobilization (Bilateral) confirmed the payment and said it was eminent jurist
Justice V.C.R.A.C. Crabbe who on behalf of the Ministry of Justice wrote a
letter on the instructions of the President on January 6, 2009 to the Ministry
of Finance to release the money to the Carmichael Family.
He had said documents available indicated that the
first payment of GH¢3.2million was authorized on April 28, 2009 while another
amount of GH¢530,628.44 was released as the final batch of payment on May 27,
2009.
The witness further told Sole-Commissioner Justice
Yaw Apau of the Court of Appeal that about $240,000 was paid as solicitor fees
and exchange rate loses were stood at about GH¢530,000.
Yesterday, Lesley Akrong, an Assistant Director at
the Banking Department of the Bank of Ghana testified on the issue and said
they acted on instructions from the Controller and Accountant General’s
Department.
He said the
letter from the Controller was written on January 8, 2009 but it got to the central
bank on April 28, 2009 and on May 4, 2009 the payment transfer to the
Carmichael Family was done.
He said because the cedi was fluctuating against the
dollar the total amount was short by GH¢530,628.44 and they were compelled to
write back to notify the Controller saying “it was later released to bridge the
huge exchange rate loss.”
He said about $240,000 was also paid to a solicitor called
Reginald Arkhurst and there was also a similar amount paid to one Christopher
Mitchell but it appeared on the documents that both transactions were the same.
Justice Apau wondered why such a payment
instructions could be completed without documents covering the transaction
saying “we will invite the Attorney General to explain the basis for the
compensation.
Adaklu
& Abutia
Mr. Akrong flanked by Saviour Kudze of the Legal
Department of the Bank also testified on GH¢780,089.80 Adaklu and Abutia land
compensations in the Volta Region which the commission says were paid to
‘unidentified persons’ per documents available to it.
He said the payment instruction came from the
Controller on December 22, 2009 and they were asked to transfer the amount from
an account called Non-Road Arrears Account and admitted that the names of the
beneficiaries were not attached to the from the Controller.
“We were instructed to move money from one account
to another account and the authorization had come from the Controller,” he
said.
He tendered in evidence bank transfer advice with
their references from the Controller in six different transactions.
A Chief State Attorney Mrs. Dorothy Afriyie-Ansah
also appeared for the Attorney General and said the AG was having difficulty
tracing the Carmichael Family file.
She also said the AG was still compiling data on all
other issues that the commission had requested from them.
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