Former Assembly member allegedly squanders GH₵500k meant for road construction
A former Assembly member for the Adobetor Electoral Area in La Dadekotopon Municipality has allegedly misappropriated funds meant for road construction in the area.
A foundation reportedly gave GH₵500,000 to construct a road and drainage system for community development in Adobetor.
However, the 63-year-old Nii Armah Ashitey failed to deliver the project.
The former Assembly member who appeared before an Accra Circuit Court has been charged with defrauding by pretenses, using public office for profit, and money laundering.
According to the prosecutor, ASP Seth Frimpong, somewhere in May 2018, the Robert Vogel Foundation Memorial, a non-profit organization approached Mr Ashitey about its desire to construct a particular road with its attached drainage.
He said Mr Ashitey presented to the directors of the foundation, a Bill of Quantities on some roads and drains that the assembly had earmarked to construct.
ASP Frimpong told the court that Mr Ashitey asked the Director, Mrs. Naomi Vogel to transfer GHC500,000 into his account with La Community Bank which he presented as the Municipal Assembly‘s account.
The former Assembly member also convinced the director that the road had been done with the funds.
He, however, failed to undertake the construction.
The prosecutor said on April 11, 2023, Ashitey was arrested and during interrogation, he told the Police that he used all the GH₵500,000 to do mobilization of the project.
When he was asked to provide receipts or documents to know how the funds were disbursed for the “mobilization” he could not provide any.
“Investigations revealed that the accused person simply made this representation which he knew was false to obtain the consent of the manager and the director of the foundation to part with the GH₵500,000 and he has since misappropriated the said amount with no effort or ability to construct the road,” the prosecution said.
Meanwhile, the former assembly member has pleaded not guilty to the charges.