Selormey on fraud charge

A former Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Victor Selormey, is to be arraigned before court for fraud and causing financial loss to the state to the tune of more than $1 million, reports the Daily Graphic.

Mr Selormey should have appeared in court last Friday, but was alleged to have reported sick to the police, resulting in the postponement of the trial. No date has been fixed for hearing to commence. Investigations by the Graphic indicated that the ex-Deputy Minister reported last Monday to the police and denied his involvement in an attempt to defraud the state.

Mr Selormey is alleged to have authorised the payment of the amount to a Dr Boadu, a Ghanaian resident in the United States, to undertake consultancy services under the Court Computerisation Project.

Dr Boadu, according to the paper's search, never performed any job in connection with the project. It has also been established that there are no documents detailing the type of consultancy services provided by him.

The computerisation project forms part of private-sector-led reforms of the Judicial Service being sponsored by the World Bank.

Mr Selormey, it would be recalled, was arrested at the Kotoka International Airport on April 15, on his arrival from a trip abroad but his arrest generated a heated debate between leading members of the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress as to why the ex-Deputy Minister should be arrested on arrival.