M&J largesse: Boniface Saddique received over £40,000

It has emerged that a former Works and Housing Minister, Alhaji Boniface Abubakar Saddiq, received over £40,000 in the Mabey & Johnson bribery scandal.

Even though hours after the ruling on September 25 in London, Boniface admitted to taking £500 from the company as a “gift” to further his education, government says he was actually “one of the highest beneficiaries” of the inducement.

A Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, disclosed this on Joy FM’s news analysis programme, Newsfile, on Saturday hosted by Kofi Ansah.

“[Boniface Saddiq] received more than £40,000 with the latest document that we have.”

The deputy Minister debunked and described as “laughable and absurd” press statement by the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) that President Atta Mills benefited from the money paid by the company.

AFAG implied that part of the money received from Mabey & Johnson might have been used to sponsor his campaigns for the presidency.

“That is the lowest level of logic that you can come up with, and it is so absurd I don’t think discerning listeners would have to give that credence.”

Mr Ablakwa also denied that the president was succumbing to pressure to investigate the case, adding the president was the first to wade into the issue by instructing the Attorney General to investigate the court's outcome three hours after judgement was pronounced.

The president, he explained: “[Is]working according to the principle of fairness…at every point in time it is important to make sure that everybody’s rights are being respected, whether the person belongs to your fold or not."

Mr Ablakwa assured Ghanaians that the president remains committed in his fight against corruption and pointed out that there would be no attempt by the government to cover up.

He noted that the Attorney General, Betty Mould Iddrisu, went to the UK with Madam Rebecca Adzalo, a state attorney, and Mr Charles Akrong, an Executive Deputy Director of Operations at the Serious Fraud Office.

However, Mr Egbert Faibille Jr., Managing Editor of the Ghanaian Observer newspaper, said he was “disappointed” about how the issue was being handled, insisting that actions taken by the president so far smacks of plans to “cover up”, “unfortunately it will not stay”.

He downplayed the president’s directive to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the case.

Rather, he charged on the Attorney General to prosecute those involved in the case with the information he gathered from his trip to the UK.