3 top NIC officials to refund ?66.6m

Three top management staff of the National Insurance Commission (NIC) are to refund ?68.6 million to the Commission following revelations that they used unorthodox means to collect the money.

They are Mrs Nyamikeh Kyiamah, Deputy Commissioner, Mrs Emma Ocran, Legal Director and A.K. Boateng, Financial Controller who, according Serious Fraud Office (SFO) report, used their positions to flagrantly abuse the laid down financial rules of the Commission.

The SFO report indicated that, the three officials “misrepresented their rights in respect of provision of accommodation by the Commission to the Board and obtained authorisation from the Board to spend various sums of the Commission’s funds to the tune of the said amount, for repairs and renovations of their personal residences outside that allowed by their conditions of service.”

The breakdown of the money shows that while Mrs Kyiamah received ?27,272,500, Mrs Ocran got ?21,828,500 with Boateng having ?18,874,914. The revelations were contained in the annual SFO 2001 report submitted to the President and Parliament.

The SFO explained that the monies were given out in the form of cheques in the names of suppliers and contractors of items to be supplied. “The officials later prevailed upon the suppliers to cash the cheques and give the monies to them with the excuse that they did not like the furniture of the officially approved suppliers and would be looking elsewhere for better and suitable furnishings,” the report stated.

Upon discovering the financial improprieties, the SFO alerted the Management and Board of the NIC who immediately took measures aimed at compelling the management staff involved to refund the money through monthly deductions as worked-out by the organisation.

The NIC, established in 1996 as the regulatory body for insurance institutions in the country was tasked to supervise and streamline the activities of insurance companies and the industry as a whole. It derives its funding from the one per cent payment from all motor insurance premiums with insurance companies. It also receives proceeds from insurance stickers and sticker holders for the various insurance companies.

However, it appears that NIC has been a veritable ground for corrupt practices, if news reports are anything to go by. The immediate past Insurance Commissioner, Samuel Appiah-Ampofo, was indicted by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), for taking bribes. He was subsequently banned from holding any public office.

Appiah-Ampofo was accused of receiving $96,500 from Edward Grant Whytock, an insurance brokers, brought by the corrupt ex-official to replace Ghana Airways insurance brokers. Following the publication of the story in an Accra bi-weekly, The Crusading Guide, Mr Kweku Baako, editor of the paper, dragged him to (CHRAJ), where he confessed to taking bribes. The CHRAJ ordered him to refund the money to the state and recommended criminal prosecution against him by the Attorney-General.