Party ‘Big Man’ Caught Stealing Campaign Cash from Data Bank

Scandal Rocks NPP

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As the wrangling within the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of President John Atta Mills continues unabated, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has also been hit with a scandal that has all the ingredients of destabilizing the cohesiveness of the party.

Even as the party tries as much as possible to hush the shameful and embarrassing larceny which recently occurred at its headquarters at Asylum Down, The Al-Hajj can today report that not all party faithful privy to matter would want the matter swept under the carpet.

A source close to a recently vexed high-ranking official of the party speaking strictly under the condition of anonymity with The Al-Hajj disclosed that large sums of party fund which was recently reported missing/stolen, was later traced to the offices of a very senior party executive at the party headquarters under strange and very questionable circumstances.

The source revealed that though the cash was eventually retrieved, some of them in the known are not happy about how the whole matter is being wrapped under the table with the intension of shielding the culprit/s, among them a supposed ‘big man’ of the party.

The Al-Hajj was told of how funds meant for the NPP campaign for the 2012 parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for next December was withdrawn from the Data Bank, but later found to have been tampered with whiles in transit between the offices of Chairman of the Party, Jake Otanka Obetsebi Lamptey and the party’s Treasurer, Esther Dzifa Ofori.

Our source explaining the circumstances disclosed that, the NPP recently took delivery of large sums of money from the Data Bank in Accra for onward disbursement for the December election.

“The money was first brought to party chairman, Mr. Jake’s office, after checking the wads which was neatly packed, and assured it was correct, Jake asked that it be sent to Madam Ofori. However, upon receipt of the money Madam Ofori asked the young men who brought in the money and who were about leaving her office to wait and have the money re-checked.

“Lo and behold, it was detected that huge sums of the hitherto tidily packed currencies were missing, but this was later traced to a big man’s office where it was agreed that, the matter should not be heard beyond the walls of the national headquarters of the Party”. A source within the NPP told this paper on condition of anonymity because it was agreed the matter should not be openly discussed in the media.

At press time yesterday, all attempts to get confirmation from party officials proved futile as those we managed to get through declined comment.

Meanwhile, a source told The Al-Hajj that in view of what has transpired on this apparent thievery, tension is rising very high at the headquarters as “no one seems to trust anyone any more, even our presidential candidate, Nana Addo does not seemed to trust anyone at the party office”.