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General News of Monday, 25 July 2005

Source: Chronicle

Law School Boss Faces Criminal warrant from US

3SIGMA Incorporated has sent a strong reminder to the Parliament of Ghana that the alleged fraudulent and criminal non-payment of $1.2 million worth of rice by the Director of Ghana Law School, Mr. Kwaku Ansa-Asare, and a Director of the Scandinavian Ventures, Nii Boye Adjetey, was a clear case of fraud towards the United States aid programme.

The reminder, signed by the Director of 3 SIGMA, Dr. Douglas Campbell, and dated, July 12, this year, indicated that

?As you are aware the G8 Summit these past days has discussed forgiving debts in Africa and not forgiving and not giving more aid to countries in Africa that are corrupt.?

Dr. Campbell emphasized that there has not been a settlement in any manner, the debt owed by Mr. Ansa-Asare and Nii Adjetey, adding that Mr. Ansa-Asare has not brought cash or any payment to the United States to pay for the rice.

He stressed that if Mr. Ansa-Asare had made any payment to the company he would have been issued a receipt or written confirmation from the company.

?Mr. Asare does not have a receipt or written confirmation from our company because he did not make the payment,? he added.
He challenged Mr. Ansa-Asare to produce a United States Government Customs Authority receipt indicating that he indeed brought the $90,000 physical cash to U.S. He said, ?If he says he brought cash and does not have the United States Government receipt, then he is admitting he has broken the laws of the U.S. and we will have a criminal warrant issued for him here in addition to the fraud charges we are pursuing.?
Dr. Campbell intimated that ?Mr. Adjetey has issued a formal statement confirming Mr. Asare?s theft of our money.? He said that the company had issued a formal statement that had been notarized by official U.S. notary and requested criminal charges for theft and fraud be brought against Mr. Asare. ?We respectfully request your government settle this issue of U.S. AID that was stolen by Asare and Adjetey.?
Dr. Campbell told the Chronicle in an interview that Mr. Ansa-Asare?s assertion that the quality of the rice imported from their company was not the required grade and the subsequent resultant agreement that Scandinavian Ventures pay $650,000 inclusive of legal fees as a replacement for $1,572,025 signed in the promissory note, was total falsehood.
He said before the rice was shipped, the U.S. Federal Grain Inspection Services of United States Department of Agriculture inspected it and verified that the rice was U.S. No.2, hard milled rice, 100% Texas grown, and not the U. S. No.5 as Ansa-Asare claims.
Further, he said when the rice reached the Tema Harbour, Scandinavian Ventures hired the services of a reputable inspection company in Tema, Manitowoc Limited, to inspect it and they in turn confirmed that the quality of the rice was No: 2.
He reiterated, ?If Mr. Asare claims that it was agreed in U.S. that Scandinavian Ventures should pay $650,000, he should make available a copy of the so-called agreement with my signature appended on it.?
Nii Adjetey said in an interview with the Chronicle, that he gave $550,000 to Mr. Ansa-Asare because after he (Mr. Ansa-Asare) returned from the meeting with 3 SIGMA in the U.S. he informed them that the company had agreed on that amount.
He said ?Ansah-Asare was our lawyer so me too I entrusted him with that cash, not knowing that was not the truth and furthermore he did not pay the amount entrusted to him.?
When The Chronicle contacted Mr. Ansa-Asare, he asked the paper to do a thorough investigation on the petitions gathered, so that the truth would come out once and for all, since he had been entangled with what he called, that ?baseless allegation.?
He lamented that after defending Nii Adjetey for so long, he (Nii Adjetey) had joined ?Dr Campbell who is a ?swindler and a crook,? since he is still trading with 3 SIGMA.
He said sometime ago Nii Adjetey brought a document to be signed that all payment made by Scandinavian Ventures to 3 SIGMA would not be disclosed to anyone, but he advised Nii Adjetey not to sign. However, he could not produce a copy for the Chronicle?s perusal, explaining that he made a mistake by not taking a copy of it.
He said the Chronicle could check from the immigration to verify if he did not carry the $90,000 to U.S. He indicated that he gave the $90,000 personally to Dr. Campbell after it had been agreed in a meeting between two directors of Scandinavian Ventures and 3 SIGMA in the U.S that $650,000 should be paid by Scandinavian ventures.
Mr Ansa-Asare said Nii Adjetey loaned ?1 billion out of the rice money to some market women but failed to account for it, adding that Nii Adjetey?s wife also opened an account at Osu with ??100 million out of the rice money.
He said unknown to him, Nii Adjetey used the money that was raised from the first consignment of the rice that was locked up in the court case, to import Soya beans oil but failed to render accounts to him.
According to him, recently a former employee of Scandinavian Ventures hinted him that Nii Adjetey secretly sold some of the rice to Prempeh College, Okuapeman Secondary School and Benkum Secondary School.