SCANCEM Bribery: Baako & Gabby Shocked

… At The Purported Voice Of Ex-Scancem Official Denying His Submissions In Court On ‘Radio Gold’

A purported voice of Gerhard Heiberg, the ex-Scancem official who reportedly mentioned the names of the former first family in the now popular Scancem bribery trial in Norway has been drawn into the fray to corroborate painstaking efforts by some individuals to exonerate the Rawlingses from the bribery saga.

Snippets of information trickling onto the news desk of Weekend Crusading GUIDE have revealed some inconsistencies on the part of Gerhard Heiberg who was recently heard on “Radio Gold” an Accra-based radio station, denying ever mentioning the names of Mr. and Mrs. Rawlings anywhere during the trial.

Contrary to claims by some sections of the media that the trip by the two editors, Kweku Baako Jnr., and Gabby Otchere Darko, Editor-In-Chief of The Crusading GUIDE and The Statesman respectively, to Norway was a total fiasco, the two have confirmed that they were making a positive inroad in their quest to fish for the necessary information regarding the scandal.

When this paper informed the two journalists via telephone in Oslo about the new twist given to the story, following Heiberg’s denial, Otchere Darko quickly questioned “Are they sure it was the same man who was the boss of Aker they spoke to?”.

According to the “The Statesman” editor, evidence available to them made it very difficult for him to believe that “it was the same person saying today that he never mentioned the name of the Rawlingses when he gave testimony at the trial at the District Court in Norway”.

Baako who was also obviously astonished by the denial, added that the evidence available included a direct quote of what he (Heiberg) purportedly said in court.

“There were a number of people but I don’t want to give any names; there were many people in many countries, there were more than Rawlings’ and P.V. Obeng, including politicians and managers in industries”, said Baako attributing this statement to Gerhard Heiberg.

The Editor-In-Chief of The Crusading GUIDE stated authoritatively that “we also have evidence of the journalists asking him to confirm or deny saying these things in court before their publication in the mass circulating Norwegian new paper ‘DNIørdag’ and we have evidence of his conversation with them”.

The two journalists stated categorically that they also had evidence that after the said publication in the Norwegian newspaper the gentleman in question subsequently granted another interview in which he congratulated the journalists on an accurate reportage.

Otchere-Darko however, charged the general public to demand of Heiberg to explain the inconsistencies in “what he said earlier, what he said before, what he said on oath in court and what he is saying now”, adding that “if indeed he is the one saying it”.

He went on to admit that there was nowhere in the judgement where the names of Mr. and Mrs. Rawlings were mentioned.

He said even when P.V. Obeng’s name was mentioned, this is what the court said; “Scancem International ANS investigated in the same connection with P.V. Obeng whether the amount transferred to the account, noted that it referred to Nigeria, which appeared to be correct. Obeng confirmed this. It is not clear whether he was asked to confirm receipt of the other amounts transferred to the accounts at the same time. Obeng is still a consultant to Scancem International ANS, and the court cannot understand how he was not asked to confirm receipt of the monies transferred to Tor Egil Kjelsaas’s account or not”.

According to the Statesman editor, the court judgement at hand stated that the first observation made by the court was the fact that both parties (Scancem and Tor) agreed that the bribes which were paid were not contrary to Norwegian laws or national legislation in Ghana or Nigeria.

According to Gabby, the court observed that Tor Egil Kjelsaas had made absolutely no contribution to clarify the matter or to undermine Scancem International’s charges against him. Scancem International was also not ready to make available some necessary documents that will help the court in it’s work.

Baako also added that it was basically about whether an ex-employee stole money or not.

He reiterated the fact that the Norwegian journalistsdid not make any conclusions that Rawlings or his wife took bribes, adding that they only quoted from the court’s proceedings.

Still in shock, Baako quizzed if the purported Gerhard Heiberg who spoke on the Radio Gold was the reputable marketing man of the International Olympic Committee.

“We have evidence of his E-mail and other correspondence with the journalists, so it really is strange if he is now denying”, he added.

EX-SCANCEM MAN EXPOSED!

The two Norwegian journalists who jointly authorized the story entitled “Grey Cement, Black Money” in the 21 April, 2007 edition of their newspaper, ‘DNIørdag’, have provided the evidence of Heiberg’s admission of the quotes attributed to him in the said story, as statements he had made in court regarding receipts of bribe monies by Rawlings, his wife and P.V. Obeng.

The admission is in the form of email exchanges and recorded telephone chats between Heiberg and the journalists before and after the original publication.

In addition, there is evidence that Heiberg had expressed his “likeness” for the 21 April story; saying “your story was surprisingly correct” for emphasis, the two Norwegian journalists expressed surprise at reports that the same Heiberg could use a Ghanaian radio platform to deny quotes attributed to him in a mass circulation newspaper in Norway, while maintaining a policy of a “culture of silence”, in Norway, relative to the explosive story, the Norwegian newspaper carried in its 21st edition and the follow-up edition in which Heiberg reportedly expressed his “likeness” for the story.

Stay tuned for more next week!