Sources close to the Attorney-General’s Department have hinted The Informer that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Chiana Paga in the Upper East Region, Mr. Abuga Pele, currently on trial at the Fast Track High Court - Financial Division - is to face some fresh charges.
He is to face these charges with two (2) others, Mr. Philip Akpeena Assibit, of Goodwill International Group (GIG) and Dr. Shaibu Gariba, the Director-General of the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI).
The new charges to be preferred against them are;
- Conspiracy to steal contrary to section 23 (1) and 124 (1) of Act 29 - against all the three
- Stealing - against Philip Assibit, contrary to section 124(1) of Act 29 and
- 3) Willfully Causing Financial Loss to the State, contrary to section 179A (3)(a) of Act 29 and Misapplying Public Property, contrary to the Public Property Protection Act., according to this paper’s intelligence sources.
This, the sources said, is as a result of some fresh in-depth investigations conducted by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) and the findings forwarded to the A-G Department for action.
Our intelligence said, the EOCO, in its exploration into the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), found out that somewhere in October 2010, the MDPI had written to a number of state institutions- NYEP, District Assemblies, the Judicial Service of Ghana and National Security, notifying and soliciting that they send persons from their outfits to be trained in oil and gas at a fee.
The EOCO investigations states in part that “the MDPI as part of the program recruited persons for purposes of the training and drafted some of its staff members onto the training project.
An oil and gas Project Steering Committee was set up to oversee the training program, according to findings. The MDPI and GIG established a bank account number No. 0006011303560 at Zenith Bank, North Industrial Area Branch on November 9, 2010; into which prospective trainees were directed to lodge their registration and training fees. Signatories to that account were Philip Assibit, Dr. Shaibu Ahmed Gariba and Hon. Abuga Pele”.
According to The Informer sources, the EOCO findings also revealed that after the initial payments into the Zenith Bank account were withdrawn and used for purposes of the training program, sometime later, the three suspects herein decided to open another account at UT Bank, Osu Branch, into which payments from GYEEDA would be lodged.
The account opened on June 10, 2011 with account number 0181100000459 and named MDPI Oil and Gas Account, had the above mentioned suspects as signatories, the EOCO exploration revealed.
The EOCO in its further checks found out that somewhere in September 15, 2011, Philip Akpeena Assibit opened a separate account at the Osu Branch of the UT Bank in the name of his company, Goodwill International Group with account number 0001132653018.
It came out also that, Mr. Philip Assibit, without the consent of MDPI diverted monies paid by NYEP on behalf of its beneficiaries into the account he had opened, thereby depriving MDPI of the benefit thereof.
It was established by EOCO’s investigations that, a total amount of Ghc8,838,414.89 was diverted by Philip Assibit into his company and personal accounts.
According to EOCO findings, the Ghc695,000.00 was later withdrawn from the MDPI Oil and Gas Account number 0181100000459 by the three signatories, but there is no evidence that the money was used for its intended purpose - thus the oil and gas training program.
For the avoidance of prejudice, The Informer will pause here; wait for the final action by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice on the above subject as our credible sources have hinted.
Apart from Dr. Shaibu Gariba cited in this new report, Mr. Abuga Pele and Philip Akpeena Assibit are already standing trial at the Financial Division of the Fast Track High Court for some related offences with regards to some alleged misappropriation of state funds.
