The Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu says the Commission on Human Rights Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) understated the amount of money in the bank accounts of the dismissed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Adjenim Boateng Adjei.
This follows an independent scrutiny of the three bank accounts of Mr. Adjei by the Auditor-General on behalf of the Special Prosecutor.
It comes days after CHRAJ disclosed that the total amount in Mr. Adjei accounts since assuming office in 2017 stood at GHS 14.8 million from his four Dollar and Euro accounts held at two banks.
But according to the Special Prosecutor, information available to him suggests that Mr. A.B Adjei deposited a total amount of GHS15,691,559.30, US$ 4.467,055.00 and 54,500.00 in three bank accounts and not four.
The Special Prosecutor said although CHRAJ must be praised for its report, the understatement of the bank statements was rather problematic.
“The Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) ought to be commended for their report, the only problem with the CHRAJ report is that for some reason it understates the amounts disclosed by the bank statements from the three banks accounts of Mr. Adjei exhaustively reviewed by the Auditor General for this Office”, the statement stated.
Mr. Adjei was investigated by CHRAJ for conflict of interest after he was accused of sidestepping procurement processes for personal gains.
He was captured in an investigative piece put together by freelance journalist, Manasseh Awuni Azure in 2019 titled, “Contract For Sale”.
President Akufo-Addo subsequently referred the corruption aspect of the case to the Office of the Special Prosecutor to probe and that of conflict of interest directed to CHRAJ.
Mr. Adjei who was earlier suspended in August 2019 was sacked by President Akufo-Addo on Friday, October 30, 2020, based on recommendations from CHRAJ.
Mr. Amidu explained that his outfit could not proceed with the investigation because some members of the team on secondment put together to probe the issue were compromised.
Click here to read the full statement from the Special Prosecutor.
What did CHRAJ’s finding on Mr. Adjei’s transactions since assumption of office
In CHRAJ’s investigations, the Respondent [Mr. Adjei] opened USD Account Number 9040002473180 at the Stanbic Bank on 03 April 2017, after his appointment as CEO of PPA.
As of 28 August 2019, a total amount of USD 516,225 had been credited to the account, and his debits stood at USD 504,607.87.
In respect of his Cedi Account No. 9040002313337 at the same bank, opened on 21 January 2017 before his appointment, a total of 3.83 million Cedis was credited, and 3.81 million Cedis debited, to the account between the date of his appointment as CEO and 29 August 2019.”
Mr. Adjei’s Euro Account at the same bank also had EU54,500.00 credited and 37,333 debited for the same period, in addition to his UMB USD Account No. “428872” which had seen cash flow of over 110,000 USD between December 2018 and March 2019 alone.”
“We find that the Respondent’s explanation completely unsatisfactory and that he could not explain the source of the large volumes of excess wealth that passed through his bank accounts between March 2017 and August 2019 (unexplained wealth)”, CHRAJ’s statement added.
Source:Fiilafmonline/CitiNews
