Bright Simons backs calls for OSP to update public on status of NAL’s Nexgo project scandal probe

A vice president of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has backed calls by former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu for the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to explain why it has failed to take action in the ‘NLA/TekStart Africa Limited Procurement Malpractice and Abuse of Public Office for Private Profit’ investigation.

In a post shared on X on October 31, 2023, Simons said that the current Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, must tell Ghanaians about the status of the investigation of the lotteries scandal which Amidu indicated was nearly complete before he left office.

The IMANI vice president indicated that he took part in an investigation on the scandal and the corruption in it is one of the worst he has ever seen.

“I agree with Ghana's former Special Prosecutor: the current Special Prosecutor must update us on the status of the scandalous National Lotteries Authority's Nexgo project.

“I personally helped Joy FM to investigate Nexgo, one of the most brazen corruption cases I've ever seen,” he wrote.

What Martin Amidu said about the NLA scandal:

The former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu, questioned why his successor, Kissi Agyebeng, has failed to complete the ‘NLA/TekStart Africa Limited Procurement Malpractice and Abuse of Public Office for Private Profit’ investigation he began.

According to Amidu, the investigation, which implicates a CEO of the National Lotteries Authority (NLA) and other officials at the authority, was nearly complete before he left office but Agyebeng has taken no action on it and even failed to add it to the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s half-year report.

In a statement sighted by GhanaWeb, Amidu said that all the witnesses and suspects involved in the scandal where some government officials at the NLA, including a CEO, are accused of using their office for private profit in an over US$25 million deal, had been interrogated.

“Kissi Agyebeng needs to explain the reasons for consistently not listing as part of his half yearly report the almost completed investigation of the suspected 2018 procurement contract giving rise to procurement malpractices and abuse of public office for private profit involving the NLA, and the alleged Chinese entity of Messrs. Shenzhen Xinguodu Technology Limited to supply 30,000 units of NEXGO N5 Smart Point of Sales Terminals (POSTs) for an approved Contract sum by the Board of Twenty-Five Million, Twenty-Three Thousand US Dollars (USD25,023,000.00) which was allegedly represented in Ghana by its agent, Tekstart Africa Limited.

“Witnesses and suspects had been interrogated with witness statements, and suspect statements on caution taken from them, as the case may be. The relevant documentary materials had been obtained through requests for information and production of documents and filed on the case docket. The progress of the investigation is verifiable from the station diary of the OSP, and diary of action in the investigation docket,” he wrote.

He added, “The investigation was left with the interrogation of the three (3) prime suspects, Mr Derek Appiah, the Managing Director of TekStart Africa Limited, one Venesa Marfo associated with TekStart Africa Ltd, and finally the CEO of NLA to be completed and a decision made whether to prosecute or not”.

Amidu, a former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, said that the evidence before he left office showed that over GH¢20 million was transferred from the NLA to TeskStart even though there was no formal agreement in place.

“The evolving investigation made it necessary to investigate the financial affairs of TekStart Africa Limited, a Ghanaian company reasonably suspected of collaboration with public officers in the NLA to use their public offices for private profit. The investigation evidence evolved showing the transfer of a sum of GH₵20,413,864.37 on 18 December 2018 from the NLA account at United Bank for Africa to TekStart Africa Limited’s account at the same bank. It transpired that there was no agency agreement or relationship whatsoever between Shenzhen Xinguodu Technology Limited and Tekstart Africa Limited. The evolving investigation also pointed to the irresistible fact that Tekstart Africa Limited was ordering the subject matter of the procurement contract directly from suppliers in Hong Kong and supplying them to the NLA and taking suspicious levels of fees for clearance and transportation from the Port of Tema to the NLA as though it was the agent of Shenzhen Xinguodu Technology Limited.”

Amidu went on to state that Kissi Agyebeng was the lawyer of the Managing Director of Tekstart Africa Limited, Derek Appiah; suggesting that he (the current special prosecutor) was the one who used all kinds of means to prevent the interrogation of the director.

He reiterated that the special prosecutor must explain to Ghanaians why the case has stalled.

Read Marting Amidu’s full statement on the NLA/TekStart Africa Limited Procurement Malpractice and Abuse of Public Office for Private Profit investigation below:

THE NLA/ TEKSTART AFRICA LIMITED PROCUREMENT MALPRACTICES AND ABUSE OF PUBLIC OFFICE FOR PRIVATE PROFIT

Kissi Agyebeng needs to explain the reasons for consistently not listing as part of his half yearly report the almost completed investigation of the suspected 2018 procurement contract giving rise to procurement malpractices and abuse of public office for private profit involving the NLA, and the alleged Chinese entity of Messrs. Shenzhen Xinguodu Technology Limited to supply 30,000 units of NEXGO N5 Smart Point of Sales Terminals (POSTs) for an approved Contract sum by the Board of Twenty-Five Million, Twenty-Three Thousand US Dollars (USD25,023,000.00) which was allegedly represented in Ghana by its agent, Tekstart Africa Limited. Witnesses and suspects had been interrogated with witness statements, and suspect statements on caution taken from them, as the case may be. The relevant documentary materials had been obtained through requests for information and production of documents and filed on the case docket. The progress of the investigation is verifiable from the station diary of the OSP, and diary of action in the investigation docket.

The evolving investigation made it necessary to investigate the financial affairs of TekStart Africa Limited, a Ghanaian company reasonably suspected of collaboration with public officers in the NLA to use their public offices for private profit. The investigation evidence evolved showing the transfer of a sum of GH₵20,413,864.37 on 18 December 2018 from the NLA account at United Bank for Africa to TekStart Africa Limited’s account at the same bank. It transpired that there was no agency agreement or relationship whatsoever between Shenzhen Xinguodu Technology Limited and Tekstart Africa Limited. The evolving investigation also pointed to the irresistible fact that Tekstart Africa Limited was ordering the subject matter of the procurement contract directly from suppliers in Hong Kong and supplying them to the NLA and taking suspicious levels of fees for clearance and transportation from the Port of Tema to the NLA as though it was the agent of Shenzhen Xinguodu Technology Limited.

The investigation was left with the interrogation of the three (3) prime suspects, Mr. Derek Appiah, the Managing Director of Tekstart Africa Limited, one Venesa Marfo associated with Tekstart Africa Ltd, and finally the CEO of NLA to be completed and a decision made whether to prosecute or not. Kissi Agyebeng wrote letters to the OSP as the lawyer for Mr. Derek Appiah, the Managing Director of Tekstart Africa Limited. Kissi Agyebeng’s client, Mr. Derek Appiah, from June to August 2020 consistently used subterfuges and excuses to avoid being interrogated. On the only or so occasion he came to the OSP he was accompanied by junior lawyers who indicated that Kissi Agyebeng insisted he wanted to be present in person for the interrogation of Mr. Derek Appiah to take place. Kiss Agyebeng confirmed this in writing to the OSP. The fact of his writing was recorded in the Letters Received Register of the OSP, the Station Diary, and also in the Diary of Action on the investigation docket.

In the course of the investigations the link between the NLA, Tekstart Africa Limited, and one Venesa Marfo emerged from my personal UK sources. This led the OSP to the discovery of a Sales Notice for the sale of Plot No. 5205 The Madison, 199-207, Marsh Wall, London, E24 9YT at an agreed price of £1,600,000 (One Million and Six Hundred Thousand Pounds Only) with the purchasers as Kofi Osei-Ameyaw/Venesa Marfo with addresses at 9 Sunflower Lane, Teshie Nunguah with telephone number 233-244-56-3894 and Hse. No. 8 7 th Road Tesano with telephone number 233-246-83-2924 respectively. The vendor of the property was listed as: LBS Properties Limited of the UK. The purchaser’s solicitor was one Samuel Tetteh Quaye in the UK. The transaction from the investigations later fell through but the findings were relevant for the OSP’s investigations of the abuse of public office for private profit at the NLA. The investigations further disclosed that coincidentally, one Venessa Marfo had been involved in several procurement transactions at the NLA including the NLA/Tekstart Africa Limited NEXGO transactions.

The people of Ghana, therefore, deserve an explanation for the reasons for which Kissi Agyebeng decided not to list the NLA/Tekstart Africa/ Venesa Marfo reasonably suspected corruption cases as part of his half-yearly report under Section 3 (3) of Act 959 since he has chosen to list all major pending cases which are not required to be listed for public consumption to give the false appearance that the persons involved must already be liable for corruption offences under Act 959.

BAI/NOQ

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