Hammah, Betty Mould, & Dufuor Should Also Be Prosecuted

The Coalition For Democratic Forces (CDF) has accused Madam Gertrude Aikens, and Mr. Gyambibi and others from the State Prosecutor's Office of acting in a partisan and personal manner by refusing to cause the investigation, charging and prosecution of Mr. Mike Hammer, Dr. Dufuour and Betty Mould Iddrisu, (all of whom are members of the NDC Party) for causing financial loss to the state in the GIA matter.

According to the CDF, if the NDC administration is prosecuting former officials of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for disbursing USD4.9m to GIA, then Mr. Mike Hammer, Dr. Dufuour and Betty Mould Iddrisu all serving under the NDC have acted in a similar manner as, and worse than, the former government officials by disbursing monies approved and not approved by parliament to the tune of around USD 16.3m to GIA between January, 2009 till date.

The CDF has therefore petitioned the Commission for Human Rights & Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to establish whether or not the Ghana International Airways (GIA) is a fraudulent company and whether Parliament approved the disbursements to the company under both the NPP and NDC administrations.

It is also asking CHRAJ to investigate Betty Mould Iddrisu, Gertrude Aikens and Mr. Gyambibi for conspiracy to cause and wilfully causing financial loss to the State for using state money for personal vendettas.

According to the CDF, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Attorney General, by their actions, can be said to have wilfully caused and continue to cause loss to public time and resources (including the DPP as a state resource) and should be charged for causing financial loss to the state.

It has therefore asked CHRAJ to establish that by prosecuting only NPP officials government is implementing selective justice system

"We should fight against a situation where the Attorney General is allowed to usurp the powers of the state and the DPP allowed to use state resources and time to pursue personal and partisan agendas," CDF has complained.

The petition, signed by Michael Owari Wadie and Abu Ramadan, said that such selective justice will seriously undermine our democracy and the belief in the rule of Law and justice by the citizenry of this country.

"If this culture of witch hunting, and misusing state resources is not stopped, it will and encourage certain unscrupulous individuals to aspire to political offices with the sole aim of usurping the powers of the State, which should be separated from government, and using State Resources to pursue personal and partisan agendas.

"We are urging CHRAJ to pierce the veil and hold Public and State officials who allow themselves to be used for partisan or personal vendettas to be held personally accountable for their actions. This will go a very long way in deepening democracy and expanding the bounds of Human rights and administrative justice and ensuring that politicians and state officials focus on development issues and not personal vendettas through selective justice," CDF stated.

Explaining the background to their case, CDF stated that five persons - Hon Richard Anane, former minister of Transport and a Member of Parliament, Hon. Kwadwo Mpiani, former Chief of Staff, Hon. Osei Akoto, former Minister of State and Member of Parliament, Hon. Gyan Baffuour, former Deputy Minister and Member of Parliament, all of the NPP administration, and Mr. Sammy Crabbe, former Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the NPP have been charged with causing financial loss to the state, including monies that were disbursed by NDC government officials.

They stated that Dr. Anane and Sammy Crabbe have been charged with wilfully causing financial loss to the State of USD4.9m for allegedly acting together, and individually, to mislead the cabinet and the state into investing the said amount in a fraudulent company.

CDF argued that since the company is a continuing business, there's no way of telling whether or not the USD4.9m has been lost or not and this can only be ascertained after liquidation.

The group said that Dr. Akoto Osei, Dr. Gyan Bafuour and Hon Kwadwo Mpiani have been charged with wilfully and negligently causing financial loss to the State of various sums. In the case of Kwadwo Mpiani he is said to have authorized the release of USD6m to GIA, Dr. Akoto Osei for releasing monies already approved in the budget by parliament and upon request by cabinet and the Aviation Minister.

They said that Gertrude Aikens, and Mr. Gyambibi and others from the State Prosecutor's Office, acting in a partisan and personal manner have refused to cause the investigation, charging and prosecution of Mr. Mike Hammer, Dr. Dufuour and Betty Mould Iddrisu, (All of whom are members of the NDC Party) even though Mr. Mike Hammer, Dr. Dufuour and Betty Mould Iddrisu acted in a similar manner as, and worse than, the former government officials by disbursing monies approved and unapproved by parliament to the tune of around USD 16.3m between January, 2009 till date.

CDF said that Mr. Mike Hammer, Dr. Dufuour, Betty Mould Iddrisu and others in government connected in anyway should have also been charged with wilfully and negligently causing financial loss (as were the four individuals belonging to the NPP Political persuasion) 'for authorizing, releasing and omitting to advice the government not to continue to disburse monies already approved in the budget by parliament'...and others without approval from parliament. In the case of Betty Mould Iddrisu, especially when she knew that the company was formed on misrepresentation and fraud.