RE: Shady deals at Forestry Commission as staff receive bribes into private accounts

The Forestry Commission has reacted to a publication which suggested some staff have received bribes and have been demanding same to compromise on diligence.

A publication by mynewsgh.com reproduced on Ghanaweb.com said some lumber traders were aggrieved following threats by some officials of the commission to seize their woods should they fail to heed to their demands.

A supposed victim was quoted to have said: “After paying all our duties as required by the government, they ordered our trucks to be seized until we parted with a whopping GH¢15,000 into a GCB bank account number 1361010015935 bearing the name Ebenezer Bekoe.”

But the commission says the story is a “total misrepresentation of what actually happened”.

According to the commission, “the money paid into Ebenezer Bekoe’s account was not a bribe”.

While explaining what actually transpired between Mr. Bekoe and Justice Fiagbor [the said victim], the commission said it was “ready to cooperate with the police to conduct any investigations they deem appropriate on this alleged bribery issue, so that the issue will be brought to its logical conclusion”.

Below is the statement