General News of Tuesday, 14 May 2024

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Haruna Iddrisu linked to over US$2.5m bribe from South African business - Report

Haruna Iddrisu, MP for Tamale South Haruna Iddrisu, MP for Tamale South

News24, a major news portal in South Africa has published a report alleging that an indigenous company that did some work in Ghana paid bribes to some top politicians.

The report specifically mentioned Tamale South Member of Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, who allegedly benefitted from bribes to the tune of over US$2.5 million (47 million rands).

The News24 investigative report was into the activities of siblings Rushil and Nishani Singh who operated the Ghana Infrastructure Company (GIC) between 2017 and 2022.

Portions of the report gave a breakdown of how different sums of money were transmitted to Haruna through others and in some cases financial support for projects related to him.

"Between 2015 and 2020, Nishani Singh used several methods to pay Idrissu directly, or to others at his request or for his benefit, at least R47 million.

"The majority of the money was paid directly from GIC’s account to various suppliers, or to GIC’s director in Ghana, Asumah Dokurugu," the report said adding that the amount was exclusive of "amounts paid for several overseas trips to London and at least one trip to Indonesia and South Africa."

The report also mentioned a former MP for Ejisu but did not drill into details of how he benefitted.

Kwabena Owusu Aduomi's involvement was largely linked to some road subcontracts that GIC got.

"Aduomi is not a signatory to the contracts but in his capacity as deputy roads minister, he was in charge of the departments responsible for the administration of the bids — most of the deals were awarded on a sole source basis.

"But it appears that Haruna was their main go-to person to secure contracts in the Ashanti Region, from where Aduomi hails, and in Tamale, Haruna's constituency," the report added.

GhanaWeb is working to get a response to the allegation from the Tamale South lawmaker who is also a former Minority Leader in Parliament.

SARA