Financial scandal hits cotton company

Wa (Upper West) - Plantation Development Limited, (PDL) a Wa based private cotton company, has dismissed seven of its officers for their involvement in a deal in which they defrauded the company of 178.5 million cedis.

The officers have been given up to the end of this month (June) to pay back the money to the company or face the full rigours of the law.

Mr. Maurice Dery, General Manager of the company, speaking to the Ghana News Agency, named the officers as Messrs Mathias Bellu of Fiam station, Domassa Sapatuo at Kajikperi station, Edmund Naagie also at Fiam and Zakaria Kassim at Sabuli station. who all constituted the then Wa North sector.

He named the rest, who constituted the then Wa Central sector, as Messrs Thompson Bassin Yeligiah at Jang station, Bruno Dozie at Keresi station and Salmon Dorimon-Naa at Cherugu station.

According to Mr Dery, the officers have also confessed to adding objects like stones and pieces of rocks to increase the weight of cottonseed of farmers at the buying centres in addition to inserting ghost names on the pay vouchers of farmers in cotton farming communities.

The General Manager said the seven officers confessed to the allegations levelled against them to a committee set up by the company to investigate their conduct.

Asked why legal actions were not taken against the officers, Mr Dery said the company has given them time to pay and "if after the deadline they do not show up, we shall advise ourselves".

He said they have engaged government auditors to investigate all malpractice and "more heads shall roll here to ensure that all workers are honest and law abiding in the discharge of their duties".

When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) contacted three of the dismissed officers, they refused to comment with the excuse that their lawyers were advising them on the appropriate line of action.