Minister diverts funds

The Serious Fraud Office has confirmed that the Ghana Free Zones Board’s (GFTB) resources were used to establish a campaign office for the Minister of Regional Integration and NEPAD, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku. The SFO has therefore directed the board to retrieve the property from the Minister’s private office located near the Dzorwulu Traffic Light in Accra.
Dr Apraku had denied on two occasions last year that he had such an office which was being used to facilitate his alleged campaign for the 2008 presidential bid.
But a highly placed source at the SFO told the ''Evening News'' that the office belongs to Dr Apraku, former Minister of Trade and Industry.
The source said Mr Andy Appiah-Kubi, the Acting Director of GFZB, acted as a ''front man'' for Dr Apraku in securing the office. It said Mr Appiah-Kubi himself admitted before an SFO interrogation team that he hired the office on behalf of the Minister, but did not know the use to which it was to be put.
The SFO launched investigations into a ?3 billion financial scandal at the GFZB in 2002. Among other allegations concerning the scandal, Dr Apraku was cited for using GFZB resources to furnish the Dzorwulu office.
The paper says it ''can confirm on the authority of SFO that a split air-conditioner, a fax machine, computers and a printer, tables and chairs were all purchased with GFZB funds and carted to the private office owned by Dr Apraku. During the heat of investigations, Dr Apraku, the then Trade Minister was also the Chairman of the Free Zones Board of Directors.
When the ''Evening News'' contacted Mr Appiah Kubi, he refused to answer specific questions put to him, although he admitted receiving the letter from SFO instructing him to retrieve the items from the Dzorwulu office.