EOCO Sits On Ken Agyapong’s Dirty Docket

*…Allowing him to call Mills A Thief Who Will Be Jailed By Nana Addo After 2012 *

The New Patriotic Party (NPP), Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North in the Central Region, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong has continued with his vitriolic attacks on President John Mills, calling him a “first class thief” who will be jailed by the NPP when Nana Akufo-Addo wins election 2012.

Speaking at a rally in Accra last Saturday, Ken Agyapong called President Mills names and accused him of hiding behind God to perpetuate thievery on Ghanaians, and promised that he (Mills) will definitely go to jail on the judgement debt paid to Alfred Agbesi Woyome.

Meanwhile, ironically, like the pot calling the kettle black, the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) sit over a dirty probe carried out into some billions of cedis that were doled out to two companies, traced to Agyapong, by the Kufuor regime through the Ministry of Energy for electrical materials he did not supplied.

Some of the companies were traced to his wife.

The Herald has it on record that the Assin North MP has appeared before the EOCO, and written a police statement, but it is unclear yet why prosecution has not yet been initiated. Sources at the EOCO told The Herald that one officer called Mr. Justice Tsa, who is a deputy to Mr. Kweku Mortey, the EOCO boss is handling the case against Mr. Agyapong Using two ghost companies to collect nearly $7 million United States dollars from the Ministry of Finance, there are suggestions that the money was channeled through him to finance the NPP’s election 2008 campaign.

The two companies namely: Mina D’oro Ventures and Messrs. Imperial World Business Limited got a total of US$6, 825, 000 million from the Controller and Accountant Generals’ Department on the orders of Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei and Prof. Gyan-Baffour who were then in the Finance Ministry as Minister of State and Deputy Minister respectively.

At the rally to climax the NPP flag-bearer’s ‘national listening tour,’ from which came his infamous “all-die-be-die” and “yen akanfuo” comment and also the abuse of Ewes on their voting trend, Mr. Agyapong maintained that documents in his possession attest that President Mills was on 6th January, 2010 briefed by the Minister of Finance, Kwabena Duffuor on the state of the country’s finances, and was subsequently informed about the payment of the judgement debt to businessman Mr. Woyome.

He said claims by the President that he was not aware of the payment have portrayed him as an untruthful person and a leader who doesn’t fear God.

He therefore stated, unequivocally, that since the President failed to act appropriately on the payment, he is either corrupt or incompetent, asking him (President) to choose between the two designations.

President Mills is corrupt because he sanctioned all the judgement debts paid to individuals and groups, he alleged.

He said President Mills’ attitude over the years has been lackadaisical and promised that if the president fails to deal with corruption under his administration, he will be jailed if the NPP comes back to power.

The case at EOCO, according to documents in the custody of The Herald, reveal that Dr. Akoto Osei and Prof. Gyan-Baffour at various times authorized the release of the huge sums to the two phony companies.

According to the documents, on July 23, 2008, August 7, 2008 and November 27, 2008, saw respectively, the release of US$1 million, US$650,000.00 and US$2, 175, 000.00 to Mina D’oro Ventures on the authorization by Mr. Christian Sotie, then Controller and Accountant General, who also bowed on the strict orders of Dr. Akoto Osei.

Prof. Gyan-Baffour by a document dated November 18, 2008 directed the sacked Controller and Accountant General, Mr. Sotie to pay Messrs Imperial World Business US$ 3 million.

Remarkably, although the two companies claimed to be suppliers of energy materials for rural electrification projects and are located within a building belonging to Mr. Agyapong-Hollywood Shopping Arcade from which he runs KenCity Media Limited in Madina, Accra-the companies could not be traced.

Since last year, this reporter started paying regular visits to the shopping arcade in a bid to locate the two companies that had collected so much money from state coffers for supposedly supplying energy materials for rural electrification projects, which insiders allege did not go through any competitive tender process.

Interestingly, however, Mina D’oro Ventures and Messrs. Imperial World Business Limited operate separate bank accounts namely; 113000003302 and 1131000013929 respectively at the Madina Branch of the Agriculture Development Bank (ADB), also located in the building belonging to the NPP MP.

Another document from the Registrar-General’s Department on the identities of the two companies revealed something very striking.

Imperial World Business Limited was not registered with the department, but rather Imperial World Business Ventures, with registration number BN-19,401C.

Mina D’oro Ventures is in the records of the department as a Sole Proprietorship with registration number BN-19,196C but in the name of a certain Stella Wilson, as the owner, and February 16, 1962 as her date of birth.

Mina D’oro Ventures was registered on March 15, 2001 to do General Merchant, Import and Export Services according to the Registrar-General’s Department.

Shockingly, its postal address is P.O. Box BC Burma Camp-Accra, the same address used by Mr. Ken Agyapong to purchase and import his nearly ¢8 billion Rolls-Royce from Rolls-Royce Motors in London recently.