CHRAJ report full of ‘aspersions, inferences and assumptions’ – Adjenim Boateng Adjei speaks

Adjenim Boateng Adjei, the dismissed CEO of the Public Procurement Authority, says the report by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) is full of “aspersions, inferences, assumptions”.

Mr. Adjei said on Net 2 TV’s ‘The Seat’ show, Wednesday, that CHRAJ was investigating him to establish whether or not contracts under his outfit were sold like the documentary from the journalists available to them seeks to portray.

However, their final report to the President did not establish that.

Adjenim Boateng Adjei stated that in the exposé, Manasseh Azure Awuni sought to establish that TDL, the company he Adjei owns, bids for contracts whose tender documents have already been sent to the PPA. That, immediately he Adjei sees the tender documents, then he forwards the bidding price to TDL and bids for the contract with the same amount.

Adjei supported his argument by referencing an ‘Evaluation Report and Recommendation for Award of Contract, Ministry of Education’ in which different bidders had quoted the same amount for the same contract.

“So, is CHRAJ saying that as PPA CEO, if I see the list of the bidders, I make a conference call to tell them this is the price the companies bidding for the contract are quoting so you need to quote the same thing?” Adjei quizzed.

“Sometimes you can’t understand how people’s viciousness can clout their thoughts,” he charged.

He claimed that CHRAJ brought up these assumptions and played to the gallery for public sympathy without hearing from the other party.

“At PPA, I was dealing with issues like contract sums which come to $200 million or $270 million and by due diligence, [they were] being reduced to $70 million, $30 million or $9 million. That was my preoccupation. I didn’t have time to give someone’s estimate to TDL to quote in their tendering process because it won’t benefit me,” Adjei noted.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in a letter dated Friday, October 30, 2020, terminated Adjei’s appointment after he had been on suspension for about a year.

The decision follows the submission of a report to President Akufo-Addo by CHRAJ on a conflict of interest investigation initiated against Mr. Adjei.

A report issued by CHRAJ noted that Adjei was unable to explain the volumes of cash that passed through his bank account with Stanbic Bank after his appointment.

The CHRAJ investigation emanated from an earlier investigative work by journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni over some contracts sanctioned by the PPA.

The CHRAJ report concluded that Adjei had put himself in a position where his personal interests conflicted with the performance of his functions as CEO and board member of PPA.

Portions of the report said: “The respondent (Mr Adjei) opened a USD Account at the Stanbic Bank on 03 April 2017 after his appointment as CEO of PPA. As of August 2-019, a total of USD516225 has been credited to the account and his debits stood at USD504607.87.

“When confronted with the evidence of the sheer volume of cash that passed through his accounts the Respondent indicated that Frosty Ice Mineral Water Ltd does not have a bank account and that proceeds from the sales of the water is lodged in his account. Frosty Ice Mineral water Ltd is the company the Respondent owns with his wife, Mercy Adjei. He also claimed that he received money from other family businesses but could not name the family businesses.”

A press release issued by Eugene Arhin, the Director of Communications at the Presidency, announcement the termination of AB Adjei’s appointment stated: “Having satisfied himself of the fact that the recommendation made by CHRAJ is properly motivated and well-founded, the President has expressed his appreciation and gratitude to Mr. Joseph Whittal and CHRAJ for the thorough and methodical manner in which the matter has been addressed.”

CHRAJ asked the Special Prosecutor to examine aspects of the investigative work relating to potential acts of corruption. The Special Prosecutor is yet to come out with his report.