Amidu: My investigators on former PPA’s boss case have been compromised

The Special Prosecutor, Mr Martin Amidu, claims his criminal investigations on former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Mr Adjenim Boateng Adjei, have been delayed because his investigators have been compromised.

Mr Amidu who is investigating potential acts of corruption on the part of Mr Adjei, said his office was collaborating with the office of the Auditor-General but that collaboration was cut short due to the conduct of his investigators.

This was contained in a letter dated Friday, November 13, and titled “An update on the referral of allegations of corruption against the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority by the Presidency to the Office of the Special Prosecutor”.

According to Mr Amidu, “one of the investigators was in constant communication with one of the lawyers of the suspects.”

He said the Auditor-General latter informed him that he (Auditor-General) had received a report from his staff that when they first met with his (Amidu) staff, they were told by his seconded staff investigators that the case was so good that each of them could benefit from it.

“In the interim it was becoming apparent from the manner the investigations were being conducted by the staff of seconded investigators to this Office that two of them were compromised because the Acting Head of Investigations and the case officer used less than one hour to search the premises of Talent Discovery Limited (TDL), Mr. Adjei's residence, and Mr. Francis Arhin's residence and literally found no material exhibits. Not even a telephone or iPad. Further intelligence disclosed that one of the investigators was in constant communication with one of the lawyers of the suspects. I raised the matter with the investigators at management meetings,” the letter read in part.

It added that, “…I confronted the Acting Head of Investigations with the facts but he flatly denied them. But the same scenario was playing in other cases such as three very serious on-going investigations at the National Lotteries Authority, for suspected commission of corruption and corruption-related offences.”

Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has sacked Mr Adjei for allowing his personal interests to conflict with the performance of his functions.

The termination of the appointment of Mr Boateng Adjei followed recommendations by the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).

Read also

Read the entire CHRAJ report which recommended PPA boss Adjenim Boateng Adjei's sacking

Akufo-Addo sacks PPA boss Adjenim Boateng Adjei for conflict of interests

Below is the full statement.

AN UPDATE ON THE REFERRAL OF ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPTION AGAINST THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT  AUTHORITY BY THE PRESIDENCY TO THE OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL  PROSECUTOR

The Secretary to the President in letter with reference number OSP127 VOL.3/19/1141 dated 22nd August 2019 referred allegations of corruption against the Chief Executive Officer (C. E. 0.) of the Public Procurement Authority to this Office for investigation.

At the time of this referral from the Presidency the Special Prosecutor had already independently gathered intelligence on the matter of procurement malpractices by Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei, the C. E. 0. of the Public Procurement Authority and had also been provided with facts and materials from other sources, particularly from the Audit Service and the Registrar of Companies.

I accordingly informed the Secretary to the President in this Office's letter with reference number OSP/SCR/2c/5/19 dated 22nd August 2020 and stated, inter alia that: "...Consequently, when I read on Ghana Web on the night of 21st August 2019 a news report of Mr. Manasseh Azure Awuni's investigative work I called him up to congratulate him and to inform him that it was a matter the Auditor-General and I had been handling collaboratively for some time now. He told me he had also hinted the Auditor-General about his investigation."

At the time of the referral by the Office of the President to this Office, this Office had also independently invited Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei to report to this Office on 29th August 2019 to assist the on-going investigations.

I referred the actual investigation of the procurement malpractices to the Acting Head of Investigations of this Office.

I froze the bank accounts of all the suspects together with their legal entities. This Office secured the bank statements of Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei, his brother in-law Mr. Francis Arhin, and other suspects. The bank statements were made available to the Acting Head of Investigations for further action. I then sent a soft copy of the bank statements by way of referral to the Auditor-General who was collaborating with this Office in the investigation of the procurement malpractices for analysis to assist the investigation. The Auditor-General in letter with reference number AG/01/19/123 of4th November 2019 under the subject title of "Review of Bank Statements Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei for the Period 01/01/2017 -31/08/2019" forwarded to this Office his review of the bank statements. (I saw published online a scanned letter without reference number dated 25th October 2019 from the auditors who conducted the review addressed to the Auditor-General whose content is the same as the letter from the Auditor- General to the Special Prosecutor above). I also arranged with the Auditor-General to send down the auditors who conducted the review of the bank statements to assist the investigators of this Office to understand the issues clearly. The review of the bank statements was passed on to the investigators through the Acting Head of Investigations.

The staff of the Audit Service who reviewed the bank statements of Mr. Adjei after their first meeting with the Acting Head of Investigation and the case officer would not come back to assist the investigations. When I pressed the matter of the reluctance of the Staff of the Audit Service to assist the further investigation of the case, the Auditor-General informed me that his staff had reported to him that they could not work with my investigators on the case. I conveyed the information to the investigators and wanted to know what the problem had been. They said they did not know of any problem.

In the interim it was becoming apparent from the manner the investigations were being conducted by the staff of seconded investigators to this Office that two of them were compromised because the Acting Head of Investigations and the case officer used less than one hour to search the premises of Talent Discovery Limited (TDL), Mr. Adjei's residence, and Mr. Francis Arhin's residence and literally found no material exhibits. Not even a telephone or iPad. Further intelligence disclosed that one of the investigators was in constant communication with one of the lawyers of the suspects. I raised the matter with the investigators at management meetings.

Eventually when I got the Auditor-General several months down the line to be candid with me on why his staff refused to collaborate with the two investigators in the case, he informed me that his staff reported to him that when they first met with my staff they were told by my seconded staff investigators that the case was so good that each of them could benefit from it. I confronted the Acting Head of Investigations with the facts but he flatly denied them. But the same scenario was playing in other cases such as three very serious on-going investigations at the National Lotteries Authority, for suspected commission of corruption and corruption-related offences.

Most on-going investigations were being unduly delayed for no apparent reasons in spite of constant reminders from the Special Prosecutor. The resolution of the Adjenim Boateng Adjci case was taking too long to investigate because my seconded staff investigators appeared compromised. I, therefore, asked for an interim report to be submitted to the President on the referral on the Adjenim Boateng Adjei case. When the first draft report was submitted to me, I felt scandalized. I called a management meeting on 10th August 2020 with the investigators' and pointed out how the incriminating evidence in their possession were inconsistent with their interim report. I suspended all on-going investigations in all cases except those affecting pending cases in Court. I tasked the investigators to tabulate within one week the total deposits Mr. Adjci had made into his bank accounts. This is still outstanding to date. On the same day, 10th August 20201 wrote a memorandum to the Acting Head of Investigation expressing my concerns. In this memorandum, I stated inter alia that: "If you did your calculations and analysis you will come out with the following closing balance of deposits for Mr. Adjei from 2017 to 19 August 2019:

              CEDIS                                    USD                            EUROS

Total:  15,691,559.30                 4,467,655.00                   54,500.00

You will also see that the monthly deposits/receipts into Mr. Adjei's Account between 2015 and 2016 ranged from GHS9,000.00 to GEISI 18,000.00 and $200 to $1000.00."

My Office never started the investigations into the "Contracts for Sale" allegations because of the attitude of the investigators into the on-going investigation into the procurement malpractices the Office was handling before the referral from the Presidency, and this explains why Mr. Manasseh Azure has still not been invited to make a witness statement. (I attach herewith a review of the bank statements of Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei excluding the names of persons who handled the transaction in the three banks to show the real deposits made into his bank accounts during his two and half years in office at the Public Procurement Authority).

On 21' September 2020 when this matter of the interim report to the Presidency was delaying unduly I conveyed the above figures electronically to update the Presidency. I had instructed the Deputy Special Prosecutor on this matter in letter with reference number OSP/SCR/21)/40/20 dated 3"I September 2020, and copied the Board Chairperson with the figures clearly stated to keep the Chairperson of the Board informed.

I have stated at page 54 of my analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment of the "Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions and Other Related Matters Thereto" report that: "'this Office also has on-going investigations against Adjenim Boateng Adjei, fonncr Chief Executive Office of the Public Procurement Authority, the National Lotteries Authority, and Charles Bissue. The Members of Parliament Vehicle Loan Affair which affects Members of Parliament from both sides of Parliament is still pending a decision whether or not to prosecute due to unjustifiable delay by seconded staff in carrying out instructions for clarification of certain pertinent issues. The delays have in the main been actuated the fact that no staff has been independently employed by this Office due to lack of sheer physical office space, resulting in the use of staff on short duration secondment whose commitment depends on how their main employers stay away from interfering with the work of this Office's during their short tenure." Nobody should ask me about my disciplinary authority over my seconded stall because I have had none since I assumed the Office and those who needed to know have had knowledge of this fact for years. The documentary evidence is overwhelming. The Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CGRAJ) ought to be commended for their report. The only problem with the CIIRAJ report is that for some reason it understates the amounts disclosed by the bank statements from the three banks accounts of Mr. Adjei exhaustively reviewed by the Auditor General for this Office.