Posted
on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Monday,
May 29, 2017
The report on the $4 million
allegedly siphoned from the coffers of the National Communications Authority
(NCA) by the bigwigs of the government institution has taken a new twist.
Even though he has been
mentioned as one of the bigwigs who benefited from the purportedly missing $4 million,
William Tevie, the immediate-past Director General of the Authorit, has denied any
involvement in the reported scandal.
He said he never admitted to
the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) or any other investigative body that
he collected any amount of money from the contract that was signed with an Israeli
company to bring in ‘spying and phone tapping’ gadgets
for the National Security Secretariat (NSS).
Last week, Information Minister
Mustapha Hamid narrated how the NCA board members unlawfully shared $1.5
million out of $4 million, which was part of the entire $8 million contract
signed between President John Dramani Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC)
government and NSO Group Technology Limited of Israel to supply eavesdropping
gadgets to help the government monitor the calls of suspected terrorists.
The minister had said that in
the course of the transaction, a local agent – Infraloks Development Limited (IDL)
– headed by one George Oppong, charged $2 million as facilitation fee, bringing
the total contract sum to $8 million, instead of the original $6 million.
Mr Mustapha Hamid then went
ahead to mention the names of all the NCA gurus who allegedly took the cash and
gave a breakdown of how much each suspect collected.
The Minister added that some
of the recipients had promised to refund their share of the cash.
“Mr. Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, former
Board Chairman, took $200,000; George Oppong, the local agent, took $100,000;
William Tevie, the former Director General, got $150,000; Alhaji Osman, a
former Deputy National Security Coordinator, received $70,000, with one other
person receiving $500,000,” he said.
However, Mr. Tevie issued a
rejoinder over the weekend to DAILY GUIDE in particular, demanding
a retraction and apology and insisting he never collected any money from the
board.
DAILY GUIDE in all its reports had stated that Mr Tevie
denied the allegation, insisting that he was not aware of the sharing of the
state money even though the board chairman insisted in the presence of
investigators that Tevie was given $150,000.
“I have never, at any time,
whether privately, before the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) or any
state investigating agency, admitted that I, William Tevie, former Director
General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), accepted any money or
monies, and which I have agreed to refund.
“I was invited by the BNI
and questioned about an allegation that some former board members of the NCA
and I were given an amount of money to share. I categorically denied the
allegation,” adding, “If the alleged monies were given or received by anybody
or group of persons, I am not aware and I was definitely not a party to it.’”
He maintained that “I
hesitate to irresponsibly go into specifics because the transaction in question
was handled by the National Security Council Secretariat because of its very
sensitive nature.”
According to National
Security sources, the payment made by the NCA was improper because it did not
receive board approval since there was no minute to support it.
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