Top NDC men in court today

The Weekend Statesman says even as an Accra High Court was Thursday granting the Ghana government the right to take over the assets of the beleaguered Quality Grain company, five former government officials who played an active role in getting loan approvals for the company were being prepared for court today.

An official of the Attorney-General's Department told The Statesman that the former Finance Minister Kwame Peprah, former Agriculture Minister Ibrahim Adam, former Chief of Staff Nana Ato Dadzie, former Chief Director, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Sam Dapaah and former legal advisor, Ministry of Finance are being arraigned before court to answer charges of causing financial loss to the state.

Kwame Peprah is said to have given approval of, and given guarantees for, the several loans for Quality Grain without seeking the approval of Parliament, in blatant violation of the Constitution. Ibrahim Adam, former Minister of Food and Agriculture, is said to have introduced Juliet Cotton to the Ministry of Finance and promoted her as an accomplished, commercial scale rice producer. He is also said to have used the resources of the Ministry of Agriculture to acquire the Aveyime land for the project.

Dr Samuel Dapaah is said to have assisted his boss, Ibrahim Adam, in facilitating the grant of the loans, when he knew that was contrary to the laws of the land.

Dr Georges Sikpah-Yankey is said to have facilitated the transfer of loan funds into the personal bank accounts of Juliet Cotton, Chief Executive of the Quality Grain Company Ghana Limited. Nana Ato Dadzie is said to have supervised the granting of additional loans and causing further financial loss, even when it was clear that the initial loans had been lost by the state through fraud and incompetence.

Quality Grain Company, headed by an American woman, Juliet Cotton, saddled the country with a debt of $21 million in loans that were fraudulently guaranteed by Ghanaian government officials. Ms Cotton was recently fined $7 million by an Atlanta USA, Court. Her partners in Quality Grain had sued her for using the company's money to live a flamboyant life. She claimed that she used part of the money to buy Mercedes Benz and Jaguar cars to host former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings on a visit to the US.