District Officers arrested for diversion of cocoa

Nsawam, March 4, GNA - One hundred District Officers of Evadox, a private licensed cocoa buying company, have been arrested for the alleged loss of cocoa from their depots. Mr. Benjamin Kofi Nyakoh, General Manager, told journalists on Sunday that their arrest was an attempt to retrieve the cocoa or get back the money.

Mr. Nyakoh said the company started the 2007/2008 cocoa season with the assistance of Barclays Bank to buy cocoa after the Ghana Cocoa Board had granted it a license to operate as a buying agency. He said money and logistics were sent to the District Officers to start buying cocoa at their sectors in the Central, Eastern, Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo regions and weekly reports were received from them that showed the quantity of cocoa at their depots. Based on the reports, the company sent inspectors who confirmed the number of cocoa bags at their depots and sent the figure to the Ghana Cocoa Board.

He said the company sent trucks to evacuate the cocoa to the ports but found their depots empty. A meeting was held and they were given one week to produce the cocoa at the depots but they could not. Mr. Nyakoh said the company would ensure that the lost cocoa was retrieved and sent to the government since the produce was the backbone of the country's economy.