Amidu finds $4.4m more stashed in sacked PPA boss’ bank account

Account balance of sacked Chief Executive Officer of Public Procurement Authority, Adjenim Boateng Adjei, was understated, Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has revealed.

“CHRAJ ought to be commended for its work and 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 read.

CHRAJ  in its reports quoted GHS 14.8 million as the total sum of monies in Mr. Adjei’s four Dollar and Euro accounts held at two banks.

But Mr. Amidu in his report said the total amount was GHC 15,691,559.30; USD $4,467,655.00 and Euros 54,500.

Mr. Adjei was suspended from office by President Akufo-Addo following an investigative documentary by Manasseh Azure Awuni,” Contracts for Sale” which revealed that a company he co-owned has been selling government contracts it won through single-source and restrictive tendering, to the highest bidder.

President Nana Akufo-Addo directed the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate his appointee for conflict of interest and corruption.

Mr. Adjei was, therefore, asked to step aside.

CHRAJ in their report last week found breaches of conflict of interest and recommended to the President to sack the PPA boss and bar him from holding any public office for the next five years.

But a  detailed report by the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, explaining why his report delayed revealed that two of his investigators were compromised during the investigations.

“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.

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