Why EDIF Boss Was Interdicted

Former Ag. Chief Executive of the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF), Agyabeng Antwi-Agyei and two others have been interdicted following their involvement in a fraudulent act that requires decisive action from government. The Catalyst published on Monday, a fraudulent act involving a former member of the Board of Directors of EDIF, Nana Yeboah Kodie Asare II, chief of Bosomkyekye in the Ashanti region.

With the connivance of the interdicted Ag. Chief Executive of EDIF, Nana Yeboah Kodie Asare II, who was a member of the Board of Directors fraudulently, used the name of a ghost company in grabbing a two hundred and one thousand, six hundred and sixty Ghana cedis (GHC201, 660.00) facility.

As a result of the fraudulent act, the Ag. Chief Executive, the Director of Operations and the Director of Audit have been sent on interdiction pending investigations into the matter.

The Catalyst has learnt that at the March 17th 2011 Board of Directors meeting, chaired by Nana Yeboa Kodie Asare II, who was a representative of the Private Enterprises Foundation (PEF) on the Board, a list of mango farms were approved for the 2011-financing year.

It was later discovered that, weeks before the March 17th 2011 Board meeting, and without any authorisation from the Board, the Ag. Chief Executive Agyabeng Antwi-Agyei on an earlier date, March 4, 2011 wrote informing 38 farmers that the Board had approved a recoverable facility to support their production of exotic mangoes for export.

By this act, the paper can reveal that the Ag. Chief Executive usurped the authority of the Board in writing to the farms/companies and made them to believe that the Board had approved such facilities. Contrary to his claims however, the Board had never met to discuss or give such an approval. The Board meeting actually took place on March 17th 2011, the paper has learnt. It has also been found out that in addition to sending out award letters without authority, the Ag. Chief Executive also caused various sums of monies to be paid to the farms/companies without authorisation by the Board.

It was later found that contrary to claims by the Ag. Chief Executive, the Director of Operations and the Director of Audit, all of whom are currently on interdiction, two of the farms- Alliance Farms and Abotare-Ye Farms, are not located in the Brong Ahafo region, but rather the Ashanti region. The facility was meant for only 4 regions, including Brong Ahafo, Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions, which form Ghana’s savannah belt. While both farms are located in the Ashanti Regional town of Bosomkyekye, where Board Member Nana Yeboa Kodie Asare II comes from, the EDIF documents fraudulently presented to the Board by the Ag. Chief Executive listed Abotare-Ye Farms as located in Bosom in the Brong Ahafo Region, and Alliance Farms in Kyere also in the Brong Ahafo region. Interestingly, the letterhead of Alliance Farms shows the farms are located in the Ashanti Region. To make matters worse, it was discovered that Nana Yeboa Kodie Asare II, who presided over the March 17 Board meeting, has considerable interest in one of the farms, Alliance Farms.

Worse of all, Alliance Farms, according to documents from the Registrar General’s Department, was not a registered company as at March 4, 2011 when the interdicted Ag. Chief Executive gave them a letter awarding them GH¢201,660.00 for their 100 Acre Mango farm.

According to the Registrar General, Alliance Farms Limited was incorporated on March 15, 2011, and a certificate to commence business issued on March 16, 2011. Nana Yeboa Kodie Asare II, who has since resigned from the EDIF Board of Directors, has been sighted in a Conflict of Interest situation, because as at the time he was presiding over the March 17 Board meeting, he was aware that a business or company in which he had interest was among those being considered, but he did not declare that interest to other members.

Our information indicates that he told the Board later that he had been appointed a director of Alliance Farms, but documents show that he is actually the majority shareholder of Alliance Farms with 45,000 shares in his private name Benjamin Kwadwo Addae, which constitutes 90% ownership. The other shareholder, Nana Kwabena Ofori has 5,000 shares making up the rest 10%. This, The Catalyst has learnt was the controversy that led to Nana Yeboa Kodie Asare II’s resignation from the EDIF Board.

The paper has also learnt that Nana Yeboah Kodie Asare has since then informed the Board that another Board member, representing the private sector, Ernest Mintah also engaged in a conflict of interest situation when the company he works for, Ghana Leasing, supplied EDIF with some accessories. The Board is investigating the allegation.

The above explains why the current Board Chairman, Prof. Francis Doudoo and management of EDIF interdicted the Ag. Chief Executive, the Director of Operations and the Director of Audit, and also the resignation of Nana Yeboa Kodie Asare II, a former Board member.