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General News of Monday, 15 May 2017

Source: yen.com.gh

BNI invites top executives of PURC for questioning over alleged corrupt practices

Nana Yaa Jantuah is head of public affairs of PURC Nana Yaa Jantuah is head of public affairs of PURC

The Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has invited top executives of the public regulatory commission (PURC) including the head of public affairs, Nana Yaa Jantuah for questioning.

The purpose for the invitation follows worrying concerns by some workers of the commission over allegations of financial impropriety, cronyism and victimization, Joy News claims.

According to Joy FM, one of its investigative reporters, uncovered how the commission extracted monies from various utility companies just to “organize public meetings after they had complained against the huge increases in tariffs”.

“The staff have called for an independent audit of the Commission’s financial accounts and also demanded the dissolution of a "dysfunctional" board headed by Dr Emmanuel Annan. On 1st March, 2017 the Energy committee of parliament summoned the PURC as part of the committee’s own investigation into the matter,” parts of the report by Joy FM claimed.

The PURC had earlier attracted public outrage for its indulgence in the drilling of bore holes.

News of the contract provoked a firestorm of controversy and outrage in a section of the public, with many arguing that boreholes could be drilled for as low as 10,000 cedis each.

The PURC's public affairs director, Nana Yaa Jantuah, defended the cost in an interview on Accra-based Joy FM, stressing that the boreholes would be more sophisticated the standard ones known to many people.

Should these claims turn out to be true, all indicted executives of the PURC including Nana Yaa Jantuah risk ending up in jail for corruption and economic fraud.