GYEEDA scandal: Abuga Pele, Assibit jailed 18 years for causing financial loss to the state

A former National Coordinator of the defunct Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), Abuga Pele, and a businessman, Philip Akpeena Assibit, have been sentenced to a total of 18 years in prison for their involvement in the GH¢4.1 million GYEEDA scandal.

Pele, who is also a former Member of Parliament for Chiana-Paga in the Upper East Region, will serve six years, while Assibit will serve 12 years in prison.

The Financial and Economic Crimes Division of the Accra High Court, presided over by Mrs Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe, found Assibit guilty of putting in false claims that he had secured a $65-million World Bank funding for the creation of one million jobs for the youth, resulting in the government parting with GH¢4.1 million.

The court also found Pele guilty of acting in a manner that resulted in the loss of the amount to the state.

The former MP was slapped with a lower sentence because the court held that there “was no evidence that he benefited from the proceeds of the crime.’’

In a judgement delivered yesterday, the court also ordered the state to seize the property of Assibit to recover the amount that it had lost.

“Prisons are full”

Lawyers for Assibit, however, hinted of their intention to file an appeal challenging the judgement of the court.

In an interview with journalists, Mr Kweku Paintsil, lead counsel for the convict, said there were many procedural lapses during the trial that negatively affected his client.

Earlier, Mr Paintsil had pleaded for mitigation, praying the court to temper justice with mercy and sentence his client to only six months.

According to him, the prisons were full, and it would not be prudent to send his client there.

He said his client was a chief with many children and mouths to feed.

“He has got more to offer society when outside prison than when in prison,’’ counsel said.

Sentences

The court found Assibit guilty on six counts of defrauding by false pretences and five counts of dishonestly causing loss to public property.

He was slapped with a 12 years in prison for defrauding by false pretences and a three-year sentence for dishonestly causing loss to public property.
Pele was also found guilty on two counts of abetment of fraud and five counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state.

He was also slapped with a six-year sentence for abetment of fraud and a four-year sentence for wilfully causing financial loss to the state.

All the sentences, according to the court, would run concurrently.

Assibit and Pele had pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against them but the court was of the opinion that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt to establish their guilt.

Assibit (Defrauding by false pretences)

The court was of the view that Assibit indeed made false claims for the money because there was not a valid contract between Goodwill International Group (GIG), represented by Assibit, and GYEEDA, which was previously known as the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) for any consultancy services.

Assibit, the court said, could also not show any proof of any consultancy services that he rendered to the NYEP.

According to the court, Assibit could not provide any evidence of the workshops, feasibility studies and other consultancy services that he rendered to the NYEP, which he claimed to have helped the programme in securing the World Bank funding.

“If workshops were held, where were those events held? Were photographs taken? Was there any oral evidence from a participant of these workshops? I am afraid none of these were made available to the court,’’ the presiding judge said.

On the $65 million grant, the court held that the World Bank never released any money to the government of Ghana for disbursement to NYEP.

The court explained that there was evidence that the said grant was rather a $60 million loan that the government was hoping to secure from the World Bank for the NYEP.

Assibit, the court held, was paid in April 2011 for the supposed services, even though the documents covering the $60 million loan facility were dated September 2013.

That meant that Assibit, the court said, was paid for the supposed consultancy services two years before the proposal for the $60 million loan was made.

“A1 (Assibit) made false representation that he had provided consultancy services to the NYEP. “ A1 (Assibit) also made false representation that he had secured a World Bank funding of $65 million to the NYEP,’’ the presiding judge said.

Abuga Pele (Abetment of fraud) With regard to Pele, the court held that the former MP’s actions aided Assibit in defrauding the state.

Pele, the court explained, wrote a memo to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the supervising ministry of the NYEP, confirming that Assibit had performed certain consultancy services when, indeed, no such works had been done.

The court rejected Pele’s defence that he merely recommended to the ministry to make payment and that he was not responsible for the payment.

According to the convict, there was a payment plan at the NYEP which put a ceiling on the amount he could authorise.

But the court was of the opinion that there was evidence to show that the NYEP started the payment plan in June 2011, but Assibit was paid in April, 2011.

According to the court, the memorandum written by Pele which supported the payment to Assibit was couched in a reckless language meant to shower praises on the supposed work done by Assibit.

“A2 (Pele) acted in a manner that caused the state huge sums of money.

His actions facilitated the fraud of A1 (Assibit).

The actions of the former MP, the court said, meant he was reckless and disregarded laid-down rules and, therefore, wilfully caused financial loss to the state.

Facts

The facts of the case are that in 2009, Pele, on assumption of office as the National Co-ordinator of the then National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), the predecessor of GYEEDA, entered into a contract with Assibit, a representative of the Goodwill International Group (GIG).

Under the terms of the agreement, the NYEP was described as the host, while the GIG was tagged as the strategic partner.

According to the prosecution, the parties agreed to combine their labour, properties and skills for the purpose of engaging in resource mobilisation, investor sourcing, management, consulting, capacity building, career development, training services, among other jobs.

Per the agreement, the GIG was responsible for resource mobilisation and undertook to provide preliminary funds for the development of the programme, while the parties agreed to equally share the profits that would accrue out of the agreement.

“Meanwhile, there is nothing on record in terms of business proposals or documents forming the basis of engaging the GIG as a strategic partner,” the prosecution stated.

Between April 2011 and May 2012, Assibit, according to the prosecution, “made a number of payment claims for consultancy services he claimed to have rendered to the NYEP, ranging from the provision of an exit plan and strategy for all NYEP modules.”

He also established a youth enterprise development project which he claimed to have used in securing approval for a World Bank facility of $65 million for the NYEP.

Furthermore, he claimed to have recruited and trained 250 youth to support the implementation of what he referred to as the World Bank-funded Youth Enterprise Development Programme (YEDP).

“False claims’’

The prosecution told the court that the representations put forward by Assibit were supported by Pele, who used them as the basis for justifying, recommending and approving GH¢3,330, 568.53, the equivalent of $1,948,626.68, to Assibit, claiming, among others, that the latter’s work had directly resulted in a World Bank support of $65 million for the NYEP.

“Meanwhile, investigations revealed that all these representations were false,” it pointed out, adding that investigations revealed that the GIG was never appointed a consultant to the NYEP.

It said Assibit had failed to provide any exit plan and strategy for the NYEP modules, adding that Assibit had, again, not conducted any financial engineering for the approval of a World Bank facility of $65 million, as he had claimed and had been corroborated by Pele.

“Indeed, there has not been any approval by the World Bank of $65 million for the NYEP,” it said. Additionally, it said, investigations also revealed that in August 2012, Assibit was paid an additional GH¢835,000 under the guise of what was referred to as “tracer studies” for the World Bank as the last requirement needed to be met for the approval of the $65 million facility.

According to the prosecution, Assibit’s claims on the tracer studies were also supported by Pele, based upon which Pele approved the payment of the amount to Assibit.

Writer’s email: emma.hawkson@graphic.com.gh