By William
Yaw Owusu
Tuesday
September 18, 2018
The Economic and Organized Crime Organization (EOCO)
has reportedly mounted a manhunt for Kingsley Kwame Awuah-Darko, a former
Managing Director of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST)
Limited following a warrant secured for his arrest.
Mr. Awuah-Darko, according to sources at EOCO, was
declared ‘wanted’ after he allegedly turned down several invitations to explain
some alleged payments and withdrawals from the state agency’s account during his
tenure at BOST.
He is reportedly on self-imposed exile outside the
jurisdiction, and is believed to be criss-crossing US, South Africa and
sometimes as close as Togo.
EOCO is said to have secured an arrest warrant from court
to get Mr. Awuah-Darko to explain his alleged role in the ‘rot’ at BOST.
Sources say there are several issues EOCO wants Mr.
Awuah-Darko to explain, key among them being
the allegation that he supervised the transfer of a whopping GH¢40.5 million from BOST to the
presidency under John Mahama.
He is also
wanted in connection with several cases of alleged lost of oil and dubious
payments.
In a related
development, a pressure group calling itself the Centre for National Affairs
(CAN), has petitioned the Office of the Special Prosecutor to initiate criminal
investigations into what it claimed to be suspected illegal payments from BOST
to the previous Mahama administration.
They claimed the recipient’s account was Chief of Staff’s
Sundries Account No. 1, with account number 1018631473188 at the Bank of Ghana
(BoG), and the alleged illegal transfers were done from August 2015 until early
January 2017 when then ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) handed over to
the New Patriotic Party (NPP) after the December 7, 2016 general elections.
Shady
Transfers
Starting from August 28, 2015, BOST reportedly transferred
GH¢3.5 million, released GH¢3 million on October 2, the same year, and another
GH¢3 million on November 12, 2015, while on December 23, 2015, GH¢20 million
was transferred.
On February 5, March 15, April 15 and May 13, all in
2016, GH¢2.5 million on each occasion was transferred by BOST while on June 9,
July 15 and August 24 in the same year, GH¢3 million was on each occasion transferred
from BOST.
Later in September 29 and November 17 in 2016,
GH¢3.5 million was transferred by BOST while on January 3, 2017, when it was
left with just three days for the previous Mahama administration to leave
office, BOST transferred GH¢3 million.
In the heat of the transition after President Mahama
and his NDC had handed over, the NPP in Parliament hinted that BOST, headed by
Kingsley Kwame Awuah-Darko, allegedly led a corrupt administration, siphoning
money to Flagstaff House.
At a press conference, the NPP said that there were
massive rotten deals under former BOST MD, with the Office of the then
President, John Mahama and his Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, siphoning between
GH¢2.5 million and GH¢3.5 million at the end of every two weeks from 2015,
amounting to about GH¢40.5 million under the guise of security transfers.
Mr Awuah-Darko, a failed parliamentary candidate for
Ayawaso West Wuogon, was said to have sneaked out of the country immediately
the NDC lost power.
He has since not been seen again.
No comments:
Post a Comment