EDIF Boss, 2 Others Booted Out

For Gross Misconduct & Causing Financial Loss

News Desk Report

The Professor Francis Dodoo-led Board in-charge of the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) has dismissed the Acting Chief Executive, Mr. Agyabeng Antwi – Agyei, together with Kwabena Hemeng-Ntiamoah, and Joseph Attah-Quansah, Directors of Audit and Finance respectively, after several months of interdiction for various acts of gross misconduct and mismanagement of funds meant for EDIF’s National Mango Plantation Development Programme.

The three, according to a release from the EDIF Board, issued on Tuesday 27th March, 2012, were said to have engaged in gross misconduct and causing financial loss as a result of their activities.
However, the Board, with its avowed position to ensure that the resources of this country is not in any way dissipated, has made its intentions known of going a step further to have the officers mentioned above prosecuted.
According to the Board, it is waiting for the report of the Auditor-General “on the quantum of funds misappropriated and evidence of personal gain to determine whether the officers are liable for criminal prosecution for their actions”.
The review, according to Professor Francis Dodoo, Chairman of the Board, also confirmed that the former Acting Chief Executive, Mr. Antwi-Agyei usurped the authority of the Board and wrote, informing thirty-eight (38) farmers on March 4, 2011, that the Board of EDIF had approved a recoverable facility to support their production of mangoes for export
“EDIF, with the approval of the Minister for Trade & Industry, Hon Hanna Tetteh, set up a Special Committee, which concluded that Mr. Antwi-Agyei did not adhere to the laid-down procedures of seeking Board approvals for disbursement”, the statement explained.

“His explanations were found to be unacceptable; and it was concluded that he failed “to exercise due care in the execution of the 2011 Mango Project disbursements.”
The statement further revealed that new evidence had come to the attention of the Board that Mr. Antwi-Agyei had conducted an improper and irregular procurement of tractors, for beneficiaries of the project.
The improper procurement breaches procurement laws and internal procedures and exposed EDIF to significant financial loss.

“It appears that, these fresh revelations of gross misconduct precipitated the dismissal of Mr. Antwi- Agyei. The other two officers were similarly dismissed for their roles in the irregular procurement of tractors.
A Bureau of National Investigations report, has also implicated the affected officers in some procurement malpractices”, the board stated.

The three were interdicted in October 2011, when a review of quarterly financial reports revealed disbursements made in the first quarter of 2011 without the requisite Board approvals.

Already a board member, Nana Yeboa Kodie Asare II, has since resigned, having consumed by the good corporate governance practices introduced by Professor Francis Dodoo and his Board at EDIF.
Nana Yeboa Kodie Asare II, was cited in a Conflict of Interest situation, when he chaired a meeting that approved funds for a number of companies including one that he had personal interest in, but failed to declare that interest. Subsequently, it was found out that the farm did not qualify for the facility.
Having followed and reported of how rotten EDIF was, we salute Professor Francis Dodoo and his team, for cracking the whip so as to restore sanity in terms of spending of public funds at EDIF; and we urge them to keep up the good work to ensure the public purse is well protected