Former Deputy Sports Minister, Pius Enam Hadzide, has explained that although there was no basis for the Australian visa fraud that rocked his administration, he had to carry his cross.

He says, unlike what is happening now, where people who paid for visas have provided evidence, there was nothing like that in the Australian visa scandal that led to his removal from the Sports Ministry.

Pius, who was speaking on the visa scandal that has hit the Sports and Recreation Ministry, said that since 2018, there has been no evidence to back claims that he was involved in visa racketeering, as compared to what has rocked this government.

Adding that what happened in 2018 compared to what’s happening now gives a clear indication that there was no scandal in 2018.

“We must be clear as to who was responsible for what. In this case, a secretariat has been established; an appointment alien to the organogram has been made; you have people confessing that they paid money; letters were written and transmitted through the Ministry of Sports and Recreation through Foreign Affairs to the embassy, which letters our friends now have.

"So, you’ll see that if somebody is being blamed, either the minister or the NSA are being blamed; there is a basis. Unfortunately, in my own case, I didn’t find the basis, but I carried the cross. I am saying that vindication only lies in the womb of time. Now we are not just hanging Minister Iddi Kofi Adams, we are not just hanging the NSA boss. We are basing our commentary on the evidence of the letters that they signed and on the confessions of the people who actually paid the monies,” he said while speaking on Accra-based Joy News.

“How come that after several years we are yet to see one person come out to say that I paid monies to go and to who…So for me there should be clarity now on the 2018 so-called Australian visa scandal. I pray that, to any honest observer, when we now do the schedules of scandals in the ministry, I am not sure that upon hindsight, the Australian matter will not meet the basic ingredients of a scandal to be able to make your list,” he stated.