Posted
on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Tuesday,
May 16, 2017
After reportedly admitting that they took $4 million
unlawfully from the state kitty, some former members
of the board of National Communications Authority (NCA) have said they are
prepared to refund the cash.
The $8 million contract was meant to buy
‘spying and phone tapping’ equipment for the National Security Secretariat but
$4 million out of the total amount allegedly ended up in private accounts, with
$1.5 million of the money going to NCA board of directors under then President Mahama’s
National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.
While the Israeli suppliers were chasing
the money for the equipment supplied, the former board members were gloating
with ‘free’ state cash.
Refund Pledge
DAILY GUIDE has learnt
that the former board chairman, Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie - a junior brother of Seinti
Baffoe-Bonnie, then senior staffer to former President John Mahama - has
pledged to ‘mobilize’ his colleagues to
refund the money.
He reportedly asked for one month (end of
May 2017) to return his loot and get the other board members to negotiate with
Ecobank to refund the rest of the money into NCA account.
Apparently, it was a scene of blame game when some of the
directors faced interrogators over the missing $4 million.
One top former NCA boss was said to have put up a spirited
defence by denying ever taking the money, but Baffoe-Bonnie quickly reminded
him that all of them were part of the loot.
DAILY
GUIDE learnt that the local agent, George Oppong who was given $100,000, is cooperating with the investigators
while Alhaji Salifu Osman,
who was a chief director at the Ministry of the Interior - before
John Mahama appointed him a Deputy National Security
Coordinator – who was reportedly given $70,000, is said not to be cooperating
with the investigators.
Efforts to reach him yesterday were unsuccessful as he
was not picking his calls. George Oppong is equally ready to return
the $1.5 million sitting in his account to the NCA.
Imminent
Prosecution
Although the former directors are making frantic efforts to
refund the money, there are unconfirmed reports that the past board members
might be charged for abuse of office and causing financial loss to the state.
It has been reported that the importation
of the equipment from an Israeli company was even concealed from the New
Patriotic Party (NPP) administration as the equipment were reportedly moved
into a private property at the time NPP took over - with no documentation at
the National Security Secretariat on them.
There was no inventory or traces of the
deal in the handing over notes left behind by the Mahama-led government, making
the whole transaction look suspicious.
Main Deal
Sources say the NCA was approached by the
National Security under the NDC administration to provide funding for the
spying and phone tapping equipment purchased from Israel for supposed counter
terrorism operations.
However, instead of the $4 million paid by
the NCA going to the suppliers, only $1 million reportedly got to the Israeli
company, with the rest shared among some of the board members.
Shares
Like spoils of war, the chairman allegedly
took $1.5 million and shared it among members, pocketing $200,000 himself.
The total contract sum for the project was said
to be $8 million and the Israeli company was supposed to get $6 million while a
local agent was to keep $2 million.
The NCA, with instruction from the National
Security, made $4 million part-payment into the private account of the local
agent at Ecobank and subsequently transferred $1 million to the company in
Israel.
The $3 million left in the account was then
split into two, with less than half going into the pockets of board members and
the chairman allegedly taking the lion’s share of $200,000.
William Mathew Tevie, who was the Director
General, had $150,000; the local agent, George Oppong had $1,000,000; Alhaji Salifu Osman, a Deputy National
Security Coordinator who represented the NSS on the NCA board, was allegedly
given $70,000 and Dr. Nana Owusu-Ensaw,
another board member, allegedly took home $500,000 to be shared with
other unnamed persons.
The local representative of the Israeli company, a certain
Penny, was also paid $100,000.
BNI
Invitation
The Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) has already had
sessions with some of the people mentioned who have confessed receiving the
money, while others are denying any knowledge of the deal.
They are being investigated for abuse of office and causing
financial loss to the state.
According to National Security sources, the money was not
approved by the NCA board as there was no minute to support the payment, except
instruction to the finance officer of the NCA to do the payment.
Israeli
Demand
Report says the cover of the transaction was blown by the
Israeli company which was persistent in demanding the payment of the service
rendered, having shipped the phone tapping equipment to Ghana and cleared them
from the port.
This persistent demand drew the attention of the National
Security hierarchy to the deal, upon which Alhaji Osman was invited for
interrogation.
Being under pressure, he conceded that they actually
imported the equipment after which he allegedly refused to cooperate with the
investigators.
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