This follows four years of legal battle where state prosecutors and defense lawyers have been putting forward evidence before the court to advance their claims.

[contextly_sidebar id=”tfWALdKQNuFV13ZPy7SkZxahXr2opv4y”]While Abuga Pele has been charged with abetment of crime, intentionally misapplying public property and willfully causing financial loss to the state, Philip Assibit is facing charges of defrauding by false pretense and dishonestly causing financial loss.

The two men are alleged to have connived to defraud the state of some 4.1 million cedis.

They have pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against them.

GYEEDA scandal

In the case scandal that hit the now Youth Employment Agency (YEA), some companies including Zoomlion Ghana Limited, RLG, Asongtaba Cottage Industry Limited and Better Ghana Management Services Limited among others, were contracted to render services under various modules for the GYEEDA programme.

Following reports of the siphoning of state funds under GYEEDA, the government in 2012 ordered an investigation into its activities and subsequently terminated the contracts with the various companies.

The former GYEEDA National Coordinator, Abuga Pele was also hauled before a court to answer for the reported malfeasance under his tenure.

Abuga Pele has since pleaded not guilty to two counts of abetment of crime, intentionally misapplying public property, and five counts of willfully causing financial loss to the state in the ongoing trial.

Mr. Pele, the MP for Chiana Paga in the Upper East Region at the time, said there was a conspiracy to use him as a ‘sacrificial lamb’ for the multi-million cedi corruption scandal, whiles those supposed to have been charged are walking free.

Gov’t blacklists RLG, others

In December 2015, Government supposedly blacklisted companies indicted in the corruption scandal that hit GYEEDA, which included big names like Zoomlion and RLG.

The announcement was made by the then Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu. However, the companies said there was no such blacklisting by government.

For many observers, the slow pace of the trial was an indication that the government was not genuinely interested in prosecuting the case, and that they were doing so to protect their people.

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By: Fred Djabanor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Martin Amidu, who was announced as the Special Prosecutor on Friday was a vehement critic of the National Democratic Congress under which these scandals occurred.

Mr. Kpebu has advised Mr. Amidu to start from those cases because “there is an abundance of evidence or sufficient evidence to prosecute.”

“If you were to go to cases that there wasn’t evidence, you would go round and round and waste resources. So start with those that are readily available so that you make a good start because you have to put your best foot forward,” he said on The Big Issue.

“Readily, the bus branding saga is one that attracted a lot of public furor and people are still very angry about it. Also the case of GYEEDA… those are good candidates because the public purse was unnecessarily bled,” Mr. Kpebu added.

When approved by Parliament, Mr. Amidu will have the mandate to investigate and prosecute cases of alleged corruption under the Public Procurement Act 203 Act 63, and other corruption-related offenses implicating public officers, political office holders and accomplices.

Bus branding saga

A former Transport Minister, Dzifa Attivor resigned after the 2015 Smarttys bus branding scandal in which 116 new buses were branded with pictures of former Presidents at the cost of GHc 3.6 million.

A leaked Attorney General’s investigation report suggested that the contract with Smarttys concluded before the procurement process started, an action that violated the nation’s procurement laws.

The excess payment was detected by a fact-finding committee set up by the then-Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah.

The committee’s report recommended that Smarttys should refund half of the amount which was an over-payment.

Dzifa Attivor may have sensed a target on her back as she used a campaign platform, ahead of the 2016 elections, to plead with members of the NDC in the Volta Region not to vote in the New Patriotic Party because she, and her deputy at the time, Fifi Kwetey, were likely to be jailed.

Her comments at the time were condemned as tribalistic.

GYEEDA scandal

In the case of the scandal embroiling the GYEEDA, now the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), some companies including Zoomlion Ghana Limited, RLG, Asongtaba Cottage Industry Limited and Better Ghana Management Services Limited, among others, were contracted to render services under various modules for the GYEEDA programme.

Following reports of the siphoning of state funds under GYEEDA, the government, in 2012 ordered an investigation into its activities and subsequently terminated the contracts with the various companies.

The former GYEEDA National Coordinator, Abuga Pele was also hauled before a court to answer for the reported malfeasance under his tenure.

Abuga Pele has since pleaded not guilty to two counts of abetment of crime, intentionally misapplying public property, and five counts of willfully causing financial loss to the state in the ongoing trial.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Lawyer urges Amidu to target Smarttys, GYEEDA rots first appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The issue was brought under the spotlight on The Big Issue after the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo’s assertion during the week that the President must not be seen to be condoning acts of corruption, which Jospong has been accused of.

[contextly_sidebar id=”9OuA4QIEM5rm88R99SKfPd3MVZs57t8A”]Mindful of the fact Jospong has not been indicted for any acts of corruption, Mr. Casely-Hayford said the mere fact a shadow hangs over the operations of Jospong should have compelled the President to keep his distance from the company.

“…So when my President gets up and goes to a facility of someone who is suspected of not having done business in a proper manner and you go and stand in his facility, the fact that you are there gives it an endorsement. You are endorsing the man’s operations. That for me is a complete no no. You don’t do things like that.”

According to him, Ghana is “too fond of trying to cover up and trying to give the coverups that we do [different names] and the stark reality is that people are involved in stealing monies and we like to give it different labels in order to make it look like something more than that. We call it corruption instead of calling it stealing, which is what it is.”

Zoomlion and GYEEDA scandal

Some of Jospong’s dealings with the government have been subject to suspicion following the revelation of scandals involving companies under its umbrella.

Of personal concern to Mr. Casely-Hayford is the handling of the malfeasance at the erstwhile Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency (GYEEDA).

Some companies, including Jospong’s Zoomlion Ghana, were engaged to render services to the country under the social intervention programme which has undergone a number of transformations over the years, and is now called the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) .

The YEA recently directed Zoomlion to furnish it with a database of some 45,000 beneficiaries under the agency’s sanitation module amid concerns over ghost names.

Following reports of mismanagement of state funds, the government in 2012 tasked a committee to investigate the activities of GYEEDA.

Though Jospong maintains its innocence in the matter, the investigative Committee’s report stated that Zoomlion acquired as much GHc500 from government to be given to each worker under the programme but only paid them GHc100, keeping the rest for itself.

Zoomlion lobbied the Minister of Local Government to increase their rates from GHc350 to GHc500 per beneficiary, but GHc400 of the money stayed with Zoomlion as management fees.

The Committee’s analysis of a schedule provided by Zoomlion to support the management fees highlighted serious value for money issues.

No action on petition to CHRAJ

In November 2013, Mr. Casely Hayford petioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) after in the investigations into GYEEDA were completed because he felt the committee had not done a thorough job.

But five years on, and numerous reminders later, he said he is yet to get a response from CHRAJ.

“My petition to CHRAJ was based on the conclusion of the committee’s report which said it didn’t have enough time to complete the investigations and they were not able to into the regions and the districts,” he recalled.

“I petitioned CHRAJ and said go and carry on the investigation and run it to its formal conclusion… every month I send them a letter reminding them that they have not responded to my petition complete the investigation on the GYEDA thing and they never say anything and they never reply.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Nana Addo wrong to endorse ‘suspicious’ Jospong – Casely Hayford appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the report did not make any adverse findings against Zoomlion.

Some companies including Zoomlion Ghana Limited were engaged to render varied services to the country under the social intervention programme, formerly known as the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP).

[contextly_sidebar id=”FeMpHWHrzI5bImi1GkoLRT5f8fdZjQPB”]GYEEDA which was a public initiative targeted at youth development however failed to achieve its purpose as it was fraught with corruption and shady deals.

Following reports of mismanagement of state funds, government in 2012 tasked a committee to investigate activities of GYEEDA.

Zoomlion paid workers GHc100 out of GHc500

The committee in the report cited Zoomlion for taking as much GHc500 from government meant for each worker under the programme but gave them [the workers] only a small portion and kept the rest.

“…As an example, contrary to the express opinion of the National Coordinator of GYEEDA, Zoomlion effectively lobbied the Minister of Local Government to increase their rates from three hundred and fifty Ghana cedis (GHS350) to five hundred Ghana cedis (GHS500). Four hundred Ghana cedis (GHS400) goes to the organization, thus 80% of the rate goes to Zoomlion as management fees.”

“The Committee’s analysis of a schedule provided by Zoomlion to support the amount of management fees raises serious value for money issues. Zoomlion is making significant windfall profits at the expense of the tax payer. In the schedule that Zoomlion provided, Zoomlion suggests that at a management fee rate of four hundred Ghana cedis (GHS400) per beneficiary, it is making a loss of circa eighteen Ghana cedis (GHS18.00) per beneficiary. The Committee finds Zoomlion’s assertion difficult to accept. This schedule is also inaccurate and highly deceptive. By Zoomlion’s own admission, certain cost items such as tricycle replacement charge, tricycle repair cost, motorbike and wellington boots were overstated. Zoomlion promised to submit a corrected version of this schedule to the Committee.”

The report in another section also said “GYEEDA module controllers and Regional Coordinators had no control over the activities of Zoomlion and therefore it was difficult to measure execution effectiveness. The management fee schedule provided by Zoomlion, suggests a serious misuse of the public purse and was based on erroneous mathematics. This raises serious questions about the basis for the approval of rates under GYEEDA for all its modules.”

We were not asked to refund any money

Mr. Agyepong while speaking on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana programme said he did not find any where in the report asking him to refund any money to the state.

“We were about 17 contractors that were having this business; each one was called for interview by the committee. I could remember that I came before the committee with my team. We provided them with every document including the numbers of people we were working with at the time. And after that the committee report came out. On page 131 the committee had its recommendations. After that government issued a White Paper on the report and I’ve read through, I did not find any charge against Zoomlion,” he argued.

He also dispelled rumours that Zoomlion was not asked by government to refund any money.

“Some journalists have posted on their Facebook wall that Zoomlion has been asked to pay GHc141 million. So I was trying to point out that such things do not motivate businesses and it doesn’t encourage businesses to grow. I’ve not received any letter from government after the GYEEDA report. After we made the presentation, the last thing that we heard was the report that came out. I don’t owe GHc140 million,” he insisted.

Meanwhile in its recommendation, the committee that investigated the matter said:

“Considering the expiration of the waste and sanitation contract with ZOOMLION, this contract should be subjected to competitive bidding, rationalised against a separate existing contract by the same SP [Service Provider] with the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to avoid duplication and reduce chances of overcharge.”

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GYEEDA report didn’t indict us – Zoomlion boss appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mr. Adongom, who was testifying as a defence witness in the ongoing GYEEDA trial, told the court the former minister was part of all the processes before giving the final approval for the payment.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ld6inlOI2ZkiihuH2lG9FAftLZn1jU9S”]His testimony at the High Court today [Monday], was in sharp contrast to that of Kofi Humado who told the court at the initial stages of the case that he only relied on the claims, technical advice and competence of Abuga Pele, the former National Coordinator of the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), to make the approvals.

Abuga Pele and Philip Akpeena Assibit, a private businessman, have opened their defence, after their submission of no case was dismissed by the court.

Charges

The state has accused Assibit of putting in false claims that he had secured a $65-million World Bank funding for the creation of one million jobs for the youth, resulting in the government parting with GH¢4.1 million.

Pele is alleged to have acted in a manner resulting in the loss of the amount to the state.

Pele has pleaded not guilty to two counts of abetment of crime, intentionally misapplying public property, and five counts of willfully causing financial loss to the state.

Assibit has also pleaded not guilty to six counts of defrauding by false pretences, and five counts of dishonestly causing loss to public property.

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By: Fred Djabanor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GYEEDA case: Kofi Humado accused of leading payments appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Auditor General to, with immediate effect, begin surcharging persons found to have misappropriated monies belonging to the state.

The order was made following a suit filed by Pressure Group, Occupy Ghana in June 2016.

[contextly_sidebar id=”N8VKosgF5fLF19DUKYMwyGa6UTrbUX4r”]Occupy Ghana was seeking an order directing the Auditor-General to issue disallowances and surcharges to and in respect of all persons and entities found in successive audit reports to have misappropriated state funds.

Occupy Ghana had explained that it sued the Auditor General for refusing to surcharge persons who are said to have misappropriated monies belonging to the state to the tune of over GHc40 billion.

Speaking to Citi News, a leading member of Occupy Ghana, Sydney Casely-Hayford explained that the order by the Supreme Court also gives away private firms who have illegally benefited from monies belonging to the state.

Casely-Hayford whose pressure group has pursued the case against the Auditor General since 2014 said the Supreme Court was“very emphatic in granting all our reliefs that, the Auditor General must apply the disallowance and surcharges [powers], collect all monies owed to the government under his authority and this extends not only to government officials, it also extends to people in the private sector who have been found culpable in collecting the money.”

“Every year the Auditor General does its audit and then produces a report. It was through that report that we were able to pick up the SADA, GYEEDA and all other corruption issues that have come up. In the past, all of these have been left because he just presents his report but now he is under legal obligation to prosecute all the officials involved in any of such activities. So in the case of GYEEDA, he would have to go to all those private sector people who were given contracts and never delivered the contracts and collect the monies that have been dissipated… He will refer all that to the Attorney General and the Attorney General must prosecute within the law,” he added.

Scandals

A number of corruption scandals have been recorded in the country in the last few years which involved public officials and private companies benefiting from state monies for less or no work done.

Some of the scandals include the monies lost to Subah Info Solutions deal, the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency (GYEEDA,  the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and the GHc3.6 million bus branding saga.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Private firms must cough up ‘stolen’ state cash – Occupy Ghana   appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

His suggestion comes days after a massive payroll fraud believed to have cost the nation 50 millions of cedis was uncovered at the Agency.

[contextly_sidebar id=”OLEjjzqIQTcQzcpE67r7caPcnJ6BfcA2″]Speaking on Citi FM’s News Analysis Programme, ‘The Big Issue‘ Mr. Cudjoe called for the “disbandment” of YEA and other employment agencies to serve the interest of the citizenry.

He believes these agencies would perform better if they are handed over to private entities.

Mr. Cudjoe further explained that government has no businesses, managing these agencies, saying they only set up these agencies to create an avenue for “siphoning of funds and recruiting party supporters”

“If this administration leaves office and another comes, we will still hear these things. Government has no business in setting up employment agencies. Let us give this off to some well-established private sector, but as long as government agencies still do the recruitment, this endless cycle of money going into all kinds of pockets will not cease.Once this administration leaves and another comes, you are likely to hear that the old ways are not good and should therefore be changed. Disband all these groups and move on,” Franklin Cudjoe argued.

Apart from YEA, other agencies have also been hit with similar corruption scandals, prompting government to in some cases restructure some of these programmes to deal with the canker.

One of such programmes was the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) which was later restructured to become YEA.

GYEEDA, which was a public initiative targeted at youth development failed to achieve its purpose as it was characterized by shady deals and corrupt activities.

Following reports of mismanagement of state funds, government in 2012 ordered for an investigation into activities of GYEEDA, and subsequently terminated the contracts with some of the various companies.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

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