Mr. Minister & "Missing" $55,000 ...

THOMAS BRONI SURRENDERS BRAND NEW LANDCRUISER….ON HINTS OF CHRONICLE SNIFFING AROUND

Mr. Thomas Broni, the deputy Minister of Interior, was late last week forced to surrender a brand new Landcruiser vehicle he took away from the Minister of Lands and Forestry to his new schedule at the interior ministry.

This was when he had hints that a newspaper in Ghana was prowling into the mystery surrounding the source of the funds used for the purchase of the 2002 model of a brand new Toyota Landcruiser, which he hijacked to his new duty post.

His decision to surrender the vehicle to the Lands and Forestry ministry, according to insiders, was after he was informed that the newspaper had pull off the cloak of secrecy surrounding a ‘missing’ $55,000 (about ?473 million at current exchange rate) from the accounts of the Forestry Commission and traced it as the source of funds for the acquisition of ‘his car’.

The Newspaper can report that in August, last year,$55,000 was secretly withdrawn from the accounts of the Forestry Commission (FC) for the comfort of the deputy minister.The money, which was withdrawn without the knowledge of the Board of Directors of the FC, was used for the purchase of a Landcruiser for Mr. Broni, who was then the deputy minister of Lands and Forestry.It all started shortly after his appointment as the deputy Minister of Lands and Forestry, when meetings were held between him and the Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission (FC), Mr. Boachi Dapaah.
Some of the meetings were centered extensively on projects being undertaken by the FC and other lurking issues, such as the rot and fraudulent deals in the timber industry on one hand and the Commission on the other.
As an outcome of one of such meetings, Mr. Sampson Adjei, the Action Chief Director, Ministry of Lands and Forestry, was mandated to write to the FC on August 15, last year, authorizing the FC to release $55,000 which had been crafted as a loan, for the purchase of a brand new Landcruiser for Broni, though the deputy minister had an official car allocated to him. Seven days after the request, Dapaah readily yielded and released $55,000 for the purchase of the four-wheeler for the comfort of the deputy minister.
Broni however denied any involvement in the withdrawal of the funds from the accounts of the FC for the purchase of the car in the center of the saga, saying,''I need a car and my ministry got me a car which I used for my official duties''.
He told the newspaper that he left the car at the Forestry ministry, as soon as he was reassigned at the interior ministry during the ministerial reshuffle.