Ali turns up at EOCO over COCOBOD allegations, Ibrahim Mahama not involved

It has emerged that businessman Ali Seidu and Kofi Job Gyasi turned themselves in to EOCO on Wednesday over corruption investigations at COCOBOD as Ibrahim Mahama is not part of those being allegedly probed over corruption allegations.

Ibrahim, brother of Ghana’s former President John Mahama, was reported to be among two men hauled before EOCO over an alleged corruption scandal engulfing COCOBOD.

Ibrahim and Ali were said to have been summoned over the probe surrounding the ousted CEO of the Cocobod, Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni.

It is now emerged that Ibrahim Mahama was not among the two men widely reported to be under investigation by Ghana’s anti-graft agency (EOCO).

Indeed, Seidu and Gyasi, close friends of ex-Ghana President John Mahama, turned up at EOCO on Wednesday afternoon without a formal invitation to answer to the supposed allegations from the body.

Acting on a report in the Daily Guide newspaper claiming that they will be invited by EOCO to answer questions over an alleged corruption scandal engulfing COCOBOD, the duo turned themselves in to answer the allegations.

However the two men were told by EOCO officials that they were not under investigation and had not been invited to answer any charges.

EOCO officials reiterated to the duo that invitations by the anti-graft agency to answer to charges are sent directly to the accused person and not through newspaper articles.

The duo was then discharged without any charges or allegations of corruption at COCOBOD being levelled against them. It is not known if they will be invited in future.

The ongoing investigation of  Opuni, the sacked CEO of COCOBOD, borders on a wide range of issues, including alleged massive corruption in the cocoa sector.

Some highly connected individual were believed to have been huge beneficiaries of contracts that were reportedly awarded without laid down regulations and fertilizers purportedly smuggled to neigbouring countries for individuals’ interest during Dr. Opuni’s tenure.

Specifically, government intends to probe some supposed fraudulent multi-million dollar contracts he’s believed to have signed before leaving office, the sources indicated.

 

Mr. Opuni’s tenure was engrossed in several allegations of corruption and mismanagement of the cocoa sector, with his critics accusing him of running down the critical sector; which generates revenue for the country and employs millions of Ghanaians.