Amidu blames his ‘compromised’ staff for ‘Contract for sale’ investigation failures

 The Special Prosecutor has blamed his investigators for his Office’s delay in investigating the CEO of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Adjenim Boateng Adjei. who has finally been sacked.

He said his staff investigators ‘appeared compromised’.

It has taken more than 12 months since the Special Prosecutor took up interest in a corruption allegation in which the PPA boss sold government contracts to the highest bidder after first awarding it to his own company.

The investigations, done by award-winning journalist, Manasseh Azure, stirred anti-graft agencies into action. But at the 2020  Baah-Wiredu memorial lecture on October 29, 2020, Mr. Azure lamented the lack of closure on the allegation.

Less than a week after the lecture, CHRAJ issued a damning report which found Mr. Boateng Adjei to have “gravely abused his high office of trust” and conflict of interest.

Photo: Adjenim Boateng Adjei

The report dated October 27, 2020, formed the basis on which the president sacked Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei who had been on an indefinite suspension. But the Special Prosecutor has still not come up with a final report. He has however offered an explanation.

“When the first draft report was submitted to me, I felt scandalised. I called a management meeting on August 10, 2020, with the investigators’ and pointed out how the incriminating evidence in their possession were inconsistent with their interim report.

“I suspended all on-going investigations in all cases except those affecting pending cases in Court. I tasked the investigators to tabulate within one week the total deposits Mr Adjei had made into his bank accounts. This is still outstanding to date.”

Martin Amidu said, “the resolution of the Adjenim Boateng Adjei case was taking too long to investigate because my seconded staff investigators appeared compromised. I, therefore, asked for an interim report to be submitted to the President on the referral on the Adjenim Boateng Adjei case.

“My Office never started the investigations into the “Contracts for Sale” allegations because of the attitude of the investigators into the on-going investigation into the procurement malpractices the Office was handling before the referral from the Presidency, and this explains why Mr. Manasseh Azure has still not been invited to make a witness statement.”

Photo: Manasseh Azure

“Nobody should ask me about my disciplinary authority over my seconded staff because I have had none since I assumed the Office and those who needed to know have had knowledge of this fact for years. The documentary evidence is overwhelming,” he said.

He said CHRAJ ought to be commended for its work and report but stated that “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.”