The C132 bn Gargantuan Judgment Debt Scandal (2)

Prez Kufuor Cited For Fraud

…Aided by Justice V.C.R.A.C Crabbe and Dr Akoto Osei

… But former Minister of State says due process was followed

In a manner reminiscent of the Vodafone/Ghana Telecom deal, former President Kufuor has been cited in a pool of documents to have used an eight-hour presidential fiat in his last day in office to push through a settlement debt of a whopping C132 billion to New Patriotic Party (NPP) sympathizers, cronies and functionaries.

The former President was ably supported in this naked act of fraud and forgery against the state by the former Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Dr. Akoto Osei and a retired Supreme Court Judge and Statues law Revisions Commissioner, Professor V.C.R.A.C Crabbe.

In the case of the Vodafone deal, it was Mr. Kufuor who ordered the termination of due processes and elected himself as the sole negotiator in the sale of Ghana Telecom (GT) with all its mobile and fixed line services and the national fibre optic backbone for a paltry US$900 million to Vodafone.

With lame excuses, he rejected South African Telecom’s US$1.6 billion offer that subsequently led to Ghana losing over US$700 million.

In this Gargantuan C132bn scandal, President Kufuor on his last day in office as President on the 6th of January 2009, authorized the payment of equivalent of US$5 million dollars or sixty one billion three hundred and thirty three million eight hundred and sixty-seven thousand one hundred cedis (C61, 330, 867.100.00) to Alhaji Yusif Ibrahim as full/final settlement of judgment debt.

According to available documents in the possession of the Al-Hajj, the former President gave fiat for this payment on the blind side of his chief legal advisor, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Hon. Joe Ghartey, and was alleged to have solely and swiftly negotiated for the payment himself as a sitting President.

The former President was aided in this naked breach of the laws of the land by a retired Supreme Court Judge and Statues law Revisions Commissioner, Professor V.C.R.A.C Crabbe, who investigations revealed was engaged under a World Bank sponsored programme to review all laws of Ghana.

This paper has gathered that the retired judge was the one who seemed to be the overseer of all Judgment/settlement debts negotiations under the Kufuor administration.

Parts of a letter dated 6th January 2009 (the NPP government’s last day in office), a copy of which is in our possession, signed by the Statutes law Revisions Commissioner, Prof V.C.R.A.C Crabbe and addressed to the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Hon. Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei reads; “On the Instructions of His Excellency the president I am directed by the Attorney General to request that you kindly settle on behalf of Government of Ghana the claim of Alhaji Yusif Ibrahim in respect of six million one hundred and thirty-three thousand eighty-six cedis and seventy-one pesewas (GHS6, 133, 086.71) as compensation for the demolishing of his property...” However, when this paper contacted the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Hon. Joe Ghartey, whom Prof V.C.R.A.C Crabbe indicated had instructed him to author the advice; he unequivocally denied knowledge of neither the letter nor its contents.

“Who did you say the letter was addressed to and what did it say” was the initial responds of the Hon. Joe Ghartey?” The seemingly innocent former A-G asked.

Indeed, when answers were proffered to his rather abrupt question, the Essikado-Ketan Member of Parliament (MP) who looked very astonished and totally ignorant of the issues at hand retorted “how much did you say was involved”?

Even though befuddled Joe Ghartey admitted of having knowledge of Commissioner V.C.R.A.C Crabbe’s capacity to author some form of correspondence on behalf of his ministry, he said they are largely on issues related to the recommendations of the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC).

Alhaji Yusif Ibrahim, whose newly constructed Pier Hotel around the Airport Roundabout was demolished under the Rawlings regime is among five other beneficiaries of a last-minute doling-out of state largesse by then retreating President John Kufuor under questionable circumstances.

Other beneficiaries are a Carlmicheal family of Aveyime, NDK Financial Services and Mr. Daniel Bugri Naabu, a National Executive Committee (NEC) Member of the NPP. The rest are Mr. E.K Owusu of Kowus Motors fame and one Nii Kojo Danso. Alhaji Yusif Ibrahim’s 67-room Pier Hotel then estimated at US$3 million was razed to the ground by city authorities in 1999; citing breach of the city’s building code. However, owners of the Pier Hotel later sued the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) for unlawful action after the defeat of NDC government in the 2000 elections.

As of press time, we were unable to establish the status of the original suit filed by the owners of the Pier Hotel against the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA). The Al-Hajj will keep you posted. Stay tuned for part 3.

However, the former Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Dr. Akoto Osei said there was nothing wrong with the payments because due process of the law was followed in all the payments this paper is referring to.

In an interview with an Accra-based private radio station, Radio XYZ, the embattled former minister said, the beneficiaries of the said largess from the retreating NPP government cut across the political divide and that they are not only NPP supporters as claimed by the Al-Hajj.

According to the former Minister of State, there are beneficiaries who are members of the ruling National Democratic Congress. Stay tuned for part 3.