PREZ KUFUOR PAID C132Billion…As ‘Settlement-Debt’ in Record 8hrs on His Last Day in Office

On the Instructions of His Excellency the President I am directed by the Attorney General to request that you kindly settle on behalf of Government of Ghana the claim of Mr. Daniel Bugri Naabu in respect of Four Hundred and Nine Thousand Eight Hundred and sixteen Cedis Ten Pesewas (GHS409, 816.10) as compensation for the destruction of his property, The Inter Royal Hotel at Tamale”.

The above statement was the tone of a letter allegedly written by the then Attorney General and Minister of Justice under President Kufuor’s government, Hon. Joe Ghartey to then Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Hon. Antony Akoto Osei on January 6th 2009, ironically, the NPP government’s last day in office.

Another reads; “On the Instructions of His Excellency the President I am directed by the Attorney General to request that you kindly settle on behalf of Government of Ghana the claim of Carmichael Family in respect of the Aveyime Livestock Project the sum of

a) Two Million Four Hundred Thousand US Dollars (US$2,400,000) as compensation for the confiscation of the property, and

b) Two Hundred and Forty Thousand Cedis as solicitor’s fees to Mr. Reginald Ackhurst, the solicitor in charge of negotiations for payment of the requisite compensation.

These two letters are part of six of such in the possession of The Al-Hajj showing how former President John Agyekum Kufuor, on his last day in office hurriedly ordered the doling-out of over C132 Billion to friends, cronies and party persons as judgment debt or compensations.

Though these purported transactions in terms of their individual magnitude may pale into insignificance compared to the Woyome saga, the monumental shenanigan associated with them would blow the minds of Ghanaians.

In one day, that is 6th of January 2009 and on their last day in office as a government, then President John Agyekum Kufuor, Chief of Staff, Mr. Kwadjo Mpiani, Attorney General Joe Ghartey and Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Hon. Anthony Akoto Osei conspired to order the release from the Consolidated Fund the sum of C132 billion purporting to be compensation payment and Judgment debt, all in just 8 hours.

The beneficiaries of this largesse are; a Carl-Micheal family of Aveyime, NDK Financial Services and Mr. Daniel Bugri Naabu, a National Executive Committee (NEC) member of the NPP. The rest are, Mr. E.K Owusu of Kowus Motors fame, Nii Kojo Danso and Alhaji Yusif Ibrahim whose hotel around the airport roundabout was demolished under the Rawlings regime.

In the haste to hide the deception in the compensation paid to Mr. Bugri Naabu, who is also the former northern regional chairman of the NPP, the letter of advice from A-G was backdated to 6th January 2008 instead of 6th January 2009, a clear act of forgery.

These payments, according to Attorney General Joe Ghartey’s purported letter, signed on his behalf by a retired Supreme Court Judge and Commissioner, Statues law Revisions, Mr. V.C.R.A.C Crabbe, to the Minister of state at Finance ministry, Akoto Osei, were in respect of ‘negotiated’ settlement claims/compensation and or judgment debt on behalf of the Government of Ghana for various omission and commission.

Attempts at speaking to then Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Hon. Joe Ghartey on why Mr. V.C.R.A.C Crabbe, a retired Supreme Court Judge and Commissioner, Statues Law Revisions who is not known to be an employee of AG’s department was the one signing those advices for the payments to be effected instead of him, proved futile as he failed to pick numerous calls or reply to text messages.

However, Mr. Joe Ghartey’s then deputy, Hon Osei Prempeh when contacted on this matter confirmed that it was an arrangement entered into for Mr. V.C.R.A.C Crabbe to sign those letters on behalf of the substantive minister.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Benjamin Kumbuor last week before the Public Accounts Committee urged Ghanaians to prepare for more mind-blowing revelations of judgment debt payments.

Mr. Kumbuor told the committee, Ghanaians will be sober once details of other yet-to-be audited Judgment debt payments become public.

According to Dr Kunbour; people in positions of authority took decisions conscious of the fact that those decisions stood to aggravate the level of liability of the state and yet went ahead to make those decisions.

Stay tuned for more anon.