Former PPA boss granted GH¢4m bail after pleading not guilty to fresh charges

Former Public Procurement Authority (PPA) boss Adjenim Boateng Adjei has pleaded not guilty to fresh charges of corruption levelled against him.

It will be recalled that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) filed eight new charges related to the misuse of public office for personal gain on Wednesday, April 17.

The facts before the court suggest that Mr AB Adjei improperly and unlawfully conducted and participated in tendering processes in awarding government contracts to Talent Discovery Limited without disclosing that he was a major shareholder of the company.

The SP said as a member of the governing board of PPA, Mr Adjei used the company as a sure bet of winning the public bids and, as the implementor of the decision of the board, unlawfully altered the decision to favour his company.

According to the prosecution, the accused benefited personally and pecuniarily through the use of public office for profit and influencing the public procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in favour of Talent Discovery Limited.

The case was referred to the OSP on the back of an audio-visual documentary titled Contracts for Sale by investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni.

The former PPA boss, also known as AB Adjei, has since been granted GH¢4 million bail, with two sureties to be produced, both of whom are to be justified with landed properties.

He is expected to hand over his passport to the court registrar.

The prosecution has also been directed to file all their disclosures and serve them on the accused person and his legal team.

Meanwhile, Francis Kwaku, AB Adjei’s brother-in-law, has been discharged following the SP’s decision to drop all charges against him.

The former PPA boss is now facing four counts of using public office for profit contrary to Section 179C(a) of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), and four counts of indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract.