By William
Yaw Owusu
Monday
September 24, 2018
The $1.2 million kickback scandal that rocked the former
Executive Director of the Ghana Standard Authority (GSA), Dr. George Ben-Crentsil,
has resurfaced, with the case likely to end in court.
According to a forensic audit report, Dr.
Ben-Crentsil was said to have allegedly collected $1.2 million from Lemet
Construction Company; the firm that he awarded a contract to build a new
training school and hostel facility for the GSA during the erstwhile National
Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.
Further
Malfeasance
Apart from the alleged $1.2 million kickback, the
government’s forensic audit report further indicted the former GSA boss for
misappropriating GH¢1,655.019 and $523,697 and has recommended that he should
be made to account for them.
The Head of Procurement at GSA, Delali Sabblah, was
also cited for procurement irregularities at the cost of GH¢9,156,266.
EOCO
Probe
In May last year, Economic and Organised Crime
Office (EOCO) reportedly commenced investigations into allegations levelled
against Dr. Ben-Crenstil.
At the time, an investigative report indicated that former
executive director received $1.2 million as kickback from a contractor of the
state agency.
Lemet Construction Company was said to have worked
on a new block of the Standards Authority Training School at a cost of over GH¢15
million.
Spio’s
Committee
The contractor did not state why he gave out the
money but the report indicated Dr. Crentsil admitted receiving the cash when he
appeared before a committee set up by then Minister of Trade and Industry,
Ekwow Spio-Garbrah.
The money, according to the committee’s report, was
paid in two installments by the contractor, the first being $1million and on
another occasion, $200,000.
Part of the report read, “The executive director admitted
taking money from the contractor but refused to state how much, stating it was
a sensitive matter.”
In July 2012, GSA awarded the GH¢15.2 million
contract to Lemet Construction Company to build a new training school and
hostel facility for the Ghana Standards Authority in Accra.
Sources at the Authority say the contractor, Johnson
Teye, failed to meet the deadline for completion of the project due to lack of
funds and the board raised queries about the matter.
Mr Spio-Gabrah, then Trade Minister, ordered an
investigation into the contract based on an anonymous letter from a management
member of the Authority.
Spio later told the media that “after I received the
first anonymous letter, I called the executive director of Ghana Standards
Board and quizzed him on the complaints. But, when I received the second
letter, I directed the board to investigate the matter. I, however, wasn’t able
to take action because the report was submitted when I was leaving office.”
No
Comment
When Joy FM
contacted Dr. Ben-Crentsil, he declined to comment.
The committee’s report revealed that the contractor
provided materials and personnel to complete a three-bedroom storey building
for Dr. Crentsil at East Legon, a suburb of Accra, but the ex-executive
director denied that allegation.
He also denied ownership of a hospital at East Legon
as revealed by the investigations.
Forensic
Audit
The government sanctioned forensic audit was
conducted by reputable international auditing firms into the affairs of those
agencies and others where massive looting of state resources through
procurements and deliberate stealing of money running into several billion
Ghana cedis were detected.
According to the auditors, there were massive
breaches of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) and the Public
Procurement (Amendment) Act, 2016 (Act 914) and mentioned some of them as
“inflation of contracts sums and non-performance of contracts. Others include
non-enforcement and breach of contracts.”
The auditors also discovered “breach of the
provision of the Financial Administration Regulation, 2004 (L.I. 1802), such as
cash disbursement without authorization, deposit of public funds into personal
accounts and failing to account for accountable travelling allowances.”
Sources said the revelations are just the tip of the
iceberg in terms of the corruption that characterized the previous Mahama
administration.
Amidu
Alert
The forensic audit report, which has cited Dr Ben
Crenstil and former heads of six state-owned agencies, has since been submitted
to the office of the Special Prosecutor, headed by former Attorney General
Martin A.B.K. Amidu and the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO).
Apart from the GSA where the forensic audit was
carried out, the other companies equally cited for alleged wrongdoing are Ghana
Gas Company Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Ghana Free Zones
Board (GFZB), Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST), Ghana
Standards Authority (GSA) and the Ghana Technology University College (GTUC).
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