General News of Monday, 26 October 2009

Source: The Informer

Akuffo Addo Blows NIB ¢300,000 On Campaign

Of the series of looting that took place at the National Investment Bank (NIB) of which it’s former managing Director (MD), Mr. Daniel Charles Gyimah, is currently in the grips of the law and is frequently seen in the wood dock at the Accra Fast Track High Court, standing trial.

The Informer newspaper has uncovered that the disappointed Presidential Candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), in the December 2008 general elections, Mr. Akufo-Addo also benefited from the NIB looting.

Akuffo Addo’s bite at NIB stands at Three Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$3,000,000). According to information available to The Informer, to which documents have been obtained, the National Investment Bank (NIB) under the watch of Mr. Daniel Charles Gyimah, spent three hundred thousand United States Dollars (US$300,000.00) on Mr. Akufo Addo’s 2008 campaign. Akufo Addo who through his Databank cousins succeeded in lobbying some financial institutions in the country to support his campaign, swiftly secured the US$300,000 from NIB, under the guise of providing financial back-up to a profitable communication business contract.

The facility was then used to finance Mr. Akuffo Addo’s voice recording campaign messages that were sent to cellular phone users all over the country, in the round-up to the December 2008 Presidential elections.This, Mr. Gyimah and his NIB did, by standing in, as a surely for one Sky Telecom, the company that fronted the deal. Upon giving the financial backing, Sky Telecom, then entered into an agreement with the then Ghana Telecom (now Vodafone Ghana) for the provision of the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Termination Services, which they used in bothering the ears of Ghanaians in the wake of the December 2008 elections with the NPP begging that Mr. Akufo-Addo be voted for to become the President of Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana.

GT according to documents available to us insisted that Sky Telecom secure a financial guarantor, from a reputable bank before the service would be provided. Then entered NIB, which guaranteed payment for Akufo-Addo’s voice messages. A staunch NPP activist and a former member of the Akufo-Addo campaign team who spoke to The Informer on the above issue, on strict condition of anonymity for fear of losing is life, confirmed the report saying, Mr. Akufo-Addo in his desperation to win the 2008 general elections gave his assent to whatever move his teams suggested may bring victory, hence the emergence of Sky Telecom.

By this wild imagination, the team contracted Sky Telecom to provide the services of putting across the message of their candidate on cellular phone users, and also solicit for votes which they could not do without the help of the then Ghana Telecom, that was solely the provider of that particular service, since their medium was at the time considered to be the most wide-spread network covering the length and breadth of the country.

According to this insider, NIB was used only as a cover-up to enable Sky Telecom seal a multimillion deal, because they were well aware of the fact that, Sky Telecom was not in the financial position to pay the US$300,000 but their quest to sell their candidate and his message made them prevail on NIB to go guarantee for Sky Telecom. Akufo Addo has failed to pay the US$300,000 to Sky Telecom, as such NIB has been exposed to the responsibility of paying the amount to Vodafone Ghana.