Valerie Sawyerr drags EOCO to court

A former Board Member of the Ghana National Gas Company, Valerie Sawyerr, has dragged the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) to an Accra High Court to stop inviting her over investigations into alleged procurement infractions recorded at the Ghana Gas company under the previous government. 

An order of injunction restraining 2nd respondent [EOCO] and 3rd respondent [Acting Executive Director of EOCO, ACP K.K Amoah] from going ahead to invite me as a subject of interest into investigation of allegations of procurement infractions at Ghana National Gas Company when the Audit Report has been completed and submitted to the 2nd Respondent without me being given a hearing,” she added in a writ at the court.

Valerie Sawyerr is in court seeking an order to quash the report of the Cabinet Committee Responsible for the Coordination of the Investigations/Forensic Audit.

The report, which came out a few weeks ago, showed that helicopters purchased from China Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation were never used for the purpose for which they were purchased.

The report also alleges that equipment for the helicopters were never delivered even though they were part of the initial contract price.

These discoveries the Committee alleged resulted from inflated contract sums, non-performance, non-enforcement, and breach of contracts, and caused the State over 60 million dollars in financial loss.

But in an affidavit to the Court, Dr. Sawyerr describes the report and its findings as a breach of the rules of natural justice and her right to administrative justice.

She thus wants “A declaration that the Audit Report completed and submitted to the 2nd Respondent was made in breach of the rule of natural justice, audi alteram partem.

“A declaration that the Audit Report which implicated me, as a former board member of Ghana National Gas Company Limited, was done in breach of my right to administrative justice and my right to a fair hearing.”

“A declaration that the Audit Report which implicated me, as a former board member of the Ghana National Gas Company Limited, contravenes Article 23 of the 1992 Constitution.”

She’s thus requesting the Court to quash the report, its findings, observations, and recommendations.

“An order of Certiorari bringing up into this Court for purposes of being quashed and quashing the Audit Report which was completed and submitted to the 2nd Respondent, and which implicated me as a former board member of Ghana National Gas Company Limited,” the writ added.

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, had earlier told former NDC appointees indicted in the audit report not to honor any invitation from different government agencies investigating the issue.

Valerie Sawyerr before this suit had written an article in which she condemned the audit report that affected six state agencies.

Heads of six state agencies under Mahama ‘misappropriated’ over Ghc800m – Report

An audit into the finances of some state-owned companies has revealed the misappropriation of over GHc800 million by some former heads of the institutions.

The companies, which include the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST), Micro and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Ghana Free Zones Board, Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), and the Ghana Technology University College, were part of 16 companies whose activities were probed.

The investigation was triggered upon suspicion that there had been widespread financial malfeasance by the John Mahama-led administration.

Citi News has gathered that reports on six of the institutions have been forwarded to the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO).

The audit report, signed by Professor Edward Dua Agyeman, Secretary to the Committee responsible for the coordination of investigations or forensic audits, and sighted by Citi News, covers the period January to June 2018.

It says the Committee was originally mandated to audit 18 public institutions but had to drop two of them due to logistical constraints.

NDC lying to divert attention from ‘exposed’ rot in state agencies – NPP

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) recently described as false, claims that government in collaboration with the UNDP has squandered over $6.8 million on private investigations with the aim to arrest and prosecute former government appointees.

The General Secretary of the NDC, Mr. Asiedu Nketia at a press conference alleged that these investigations were being done at a staggering cost to the state.