Water Metres Import Pre-Arranged - Probe

Mr. Frederick Osafo Ntim the Managing Director of FON Limited, has told the Committee probing the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), chaired by Mr. Justice N.Y B Adade that 10,000 pieces of water meters supplied by his company last year were shipped and cleared at the port one month before the contract was placed on tender by the board of GWCL.

The meters were placed on tender in the 'Ghanaian Times' on 13th May last year but were shipped by the manufacturers in April.

It emerged during proceedings that GWCL was made the consignee of the goods imported but they were cleared by an agent of the supplier.

The goods were stored in a private warehouse at a cost to GWCL. They could not be kept in the GWCL stores because at the time of arrival they had not ordered any goods from abroad.

Narrating how he got involved in the deal, Mr. Ntim told the Committee that in April last year, he honoured an appointment with the interdicted Managing Director, Mr. Charles Adjei through a call from Mr. A.B Adjei, interdicted Chief Manager of Materials. During the meeting the issue of the supply of water meters came up for discussion on the recommendation of the board.

Mr. Ntim said he linked up with the manufacturers in Milan, Italy and informed them about the urgency of the goods and confirmed the order.

He said while production was underway in April last year, Mr. Adjei informed him that the board had directed management to open the bid on tender so he should notify his manufacturers to stop, by which time 10,000 meters had already been produced.

Mr. Ntim said he shipped the first consignment at the end of April last year but was not certain about the second batch. He said the goods were shipped and stored at Walfred Warehouse in Accra. This was corroborated by a bill of lading covering the imported meters specifying the date as 30th April 2000 with the consignee as GWCL.

Mr. Ntim said the price quoted was $24 per unit CIF with no duties paid but FON had to factor cost of pre-financing, haulage, clearing charges and storage before profit as the rationale for arriving at the figure of $41 per unit.

Reacting to a question, Mr. Ntim conceded that it was the sole responsibility of GWCL as consignee to clear the goods and not a clearing agent as FON had done. He said the manufacturers consigned the goods to GWCL so in effect no duties were paid by FON on the import.

When Mr. Adjei appeared before the committee, he denied instructing FON Limited to arrange for supply of water meters. This infuriated the Chairman who reprimanded Mr. Adjei for not raising an objection in the submission by Mr. Ntim but waited until he had left.