Minister's wife owns 710mC building

In a front-page banner, the Independent says that its investigations have revealed that the wife of Sports and Youth Minister, Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, is the owner of the 710 million cedis Russian complex at Tema Fishing Harbour.

According to the paper, the building put up by an Italian firm in the 1960's for the State Fishing Corporation, was to have served as a cold store complex and Russian technicians were brought to Ghana for the purpose, hence its name.

The story, accompanied with a picture of the building, says with the advent of the 1966 coup, all plans for the complex were put once, quoting sources close to the former management of the corporation. According to the sources, when the corporation was placed on the divestiture list, a number of people, including an American-Australian investor, made attempts to buy the structure without success.

The sources said Botiva Enterprises, belonginf to the wife of the Sports Minister, Mrs Vida Mensah, won the rights to the complex, which was sold for 710 million cedis. Mrs Mensah is said to have constructed a cold room in the ground floor of the complex. The story says the general workshop and the administration block were sold to other entities.