The Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) has petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to launch an investigation into former President Jerry John Rawlings’ alleged $5million gift he is rumoured to have received from late Nigerian leader Sani Abacha.

The flag bearer of the GCPP, Dr Henry Lartey, has accused the ex-president of lying to Ghanaians about the amount of money he received from Mr Abacha. According to Dr Lartey, President Rawlings received $5million and not $2million as he had claimed in a recent interview.

Speaking at a news conference in Accra on Tuesday September 27, Dr Lartey said: “We will not allow anyone who is corrupt to get away with it, even if you are the president of Ghana. If we start from the top, it will trickle down. We are going to CHRAJ with our lawyers and he (Rawlings) will have to answer all these questions. No vendetta or whatsoever, I actually respected him to a point – he disappointed me and he has disappointed all West Africans. It is a sad thing that a man of probity and accountability must come to tell us that he took $2million cash [from Abacha]. Did he take it on behalf of Ghanaians? Who signed for the money? What was the money used for…? Did he really receive $2million? Are we being lied to?” he asked.

Mr Rawlings, while speaking to the Guardian Newspaper in Nigeria in July this year, admitted receiving the money from that country’s late military ruler but said it was $2million and not $5million as alleged. The incident happened in 1998.