At the Probe: Minister fronts house ownership with 7-year old son

The woes of Dr. Adjei-Maafo (not a Kwatriot), Presidential Staffer on Cocoa Affairs, deepened when the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) openly accused him of using his seven-year-old son and sister-in-law as fronts for two of his houses. According to the Commission, the Presidential Staffer had used the name of his seven-year-old son, Kofi Boateng Adjei-Maafo as a front for house number D50 at Tema.

The CHRAJ is investigating allegations of bribery and corruption levelled against govt officials by the independent press, principally the Ghanaian Chronicle and Independent. The editors for the newspapers are the chief witnesses in the cases with the onus on them to substantiate their allegations. Already, some of the Ministers being investigated have declared their intention to institute libel suits should they be able to prove that the allegations were untrue.

The house, which Dr. Maafo had said belonged to a neighbor, Mr. K. Gyasi, was discovered by the Commission to have receipts of payment bearing Dr. Maafo's name. Moreover, Mr. K. Gyasi, who was described by Dr. Maafo at the previous sitting as just a "next door neighbour who had given out his house for hire" during the Friday proceedings metamorphosed into Mr. Kwakye, "a relative and close confidante" of Dr. Maafo. Unknown to Dr. Maafo, the Commission had sub-poenaed Regimanuel Gray for the receipts of payments.

Mrs. Dormakyerah, who chaired the Friday probe, queried:

Dr. Maafo, have you ever made any payments to Regimanuel"?

The Presidential Staffer replied, "I think what K. Gyasi

did was that he might have receipted some in my name. And

at a point, Regimanuel needed to be paid, so I asked my

wife to pay for him, so that he would pay us back."

Mrs. Dormakyerah exclaimed, "why should she pay that

money?"

Dr. Maafo came on the defensive, "Madam, the purchasing of

that house had something to do with a family problem. If K

was invited here, he would tell you why he did that".

Mrs. Dormakyerah: Dr. Maafo, you are at liberty to call K.

Gyasi as your witness. Do you know any Lilly Kwakye?

Dr. Maafo: Yes

Mrs. Dormakyerah: Where is she staying

Maafo: She has been living with us since 1989.

Mrs. D: Our information from Regimanuel is that House No.

D50 belongs to Kofi Boateng Adjei-Maafo. What is your

reaction?

Maafo: My reaction is that, No. K. Gyasi bought that house

for his daughter Lily because he had certain problems with

his wife, he felt that if he made the house in his own name

it would cause a lot of problems. In fact, K did many

things in my name because of these problems. The intention

is that when Lily is 21 years old, then she can taken over.

In summary that is what I would say.

Mrs. D.: We have got all the receipts from Regimanuel under

Subpoena which bears your name as the one who paid for the

house.

Maafo: Madam, No.

Mrs. D.: Are you saying that you have never gone to

Regimanuel to make any payments for that house?

Maafo: No, I think when K wasn't able to pay, he made

arrangements for payments to be made.

Mrs. D: If then, you and your son have been acting as

fronts for Mr. Kwakye.

Maafo: Madam, I would say NO and Yes. We did that

especially for the child.

Mrs. D: Alternately, you are using your son and Mr. Kwakye

as a front for the D50 house.

The commission also pushed Dr. Maafo to accept that the

next house his father-in-law's and his wife's names as

owners.

Moreover a house at Lashibi, where Dr. Maafo lives but had

submitted as his sister-in-law's house was found to have

payments in the name of Mr. Pinkrah, Dr. Maafo's paternal

uncle. During the entire probe, Mr. Pinkrah's name has been

bandied by Dr. Maafo as the owner of another big storey

building at Madina, which is alleged to belong to the

Presidential Staffer. During Friday's sitting, Dr. Maafo

accused the Secretary who had issued the receipts at

Regimanuel for using Mr. Pinkrah's name instead of Seth

Kwakye's.

Mrs. D: You are staying in your sister-in-law's house and

she is not in Ghana, who makes payments for the house?

Maafo: I think her brother does the payment. He is Seth

Kwakye.

Mrs. D: Your uncle, Mr. Pinkrah, did he have anything to do

with the payments of the house?

Maafo: Madam er....we..., I remember that Julie, my

sister-in-law, rang me from Canada that she didn't

understand why Seth Kwakye had paid in Mr. Pinkrah's name.

According to Seth, he had been sent to do two things; one

was to buy some building materials for Mr. Pinkrah and

other was to pay at Regimanuel, he rather paid the money in

Mr. Pinkrah's name.

Mrs. D: So are you saying that Kwakye made only one payment

in Mr. Pinkrah's name.

Maafo: I think he made more than one.

Mrs. D. : We of the Commission believe that Mr. Pinkrah

made the payment himself.

Maafo: No.

Mrs. D: Procedure at Regimanuel are that receipts are

issued in the name of the particular person who pays. So

that if Mr. A sent the money there he would be issued a

receipt in his name. So if Mr. A, B, or C came to pay, they

would be issued with receipts in their names. But finally

the last receipt would be issued in the name of the owner.

AM: Madam if this is the procedure then that was a serious

error, whoever issued the receipts didn't follow the

procedure.

The Commission also grilled the Presidential Staffer for

Cocoa Schedule on his role in the Walter Shroeder deals.

Although Dr. Maafo said his role in the joint venture of

Walter Shroeder and the Cocoa Board was a policy

supervisor, and that he had gone out with the Ghanaian team

to Germany and Britain to advertise government and also he

had been made Chairman over WAMCO, he had not misused his

office.

Mrs. D: Have you benefited officially or unofficially in

any way by your association with this arrangement? I think

the answer is obvious.

Maafo: No, Madam.

Mrs. D: But you have indicated that Bosompem Co. your

company distributes chocolates. Don't you think by this way

you have had an advantage?

Maafo: No, Madam, because if you look at the list of

chocolate supply, Bosompim Co. is the 23rd in ranking on

the list of the factory.

Meanwhile, the Commission did not give Dr. Maafo the date

for his next appearance. Commissioner Short promised it

would be his last.

HORSE TRADING AT NDC