Church Caught In Dirty Blackmail Against Forestry Boss

Details emerging from the Forestry Commission (FC) have revealed that the recent accusation of a conflict of interest case against the Commission’s boss is false.

The accusation, which was contained in a petition sent to the Osu Castle, has also turned out to be a blackmail against the Forestry Commission head, Afari Dartey, by one of the three parties – Christ Kingdom Ambassador Chapel – which put in the lowest bid to acquire the land in 2008, and was thrown out.

The petition, by one John Kyeremanteng, accused Mr. Dartey of grabbing a state land belonging to the Forestry Commission situated in Takoradi in the Western Region, through his company, Ocean Club Limited also located in Takoradi.

The land, the petitioner stated, was priced at US$6 million for the Ghana Ports and Habours Authority (GPHA) to purchase, but was dramatically sold for a paltry sum of US$1 million to the Forestry Commission boss.

However, in a swift response to queries sent Mr. Dartey by President John Evans Atta Mills, the Board Chairman of Forestry Commission said that the information as contained in the petition was untrue as the Commission did not own any piece of land, which its CEO has appropriated to himself or his company, Ocean Club Limited.

The response which was sent to President Mills and copied The Herald, as a result of its recent publication on the petition, explained that in 2005, the Commission in its bid to assign its interest in the property went through the processes of approval from the then Forestry Commission Board of Commissioners and was granted.

Subsequently, onward sale of the property was advertised in the Daily Graphic edition of Monday, July 10, 2006, inviting interested persons and organizations to the sale for which four organizations expressed interest in the property.

They are Ghana Ports and Habours Authority, Flexible Transactions Enterprise, Shelta West and Christ Kingdom Ambassador Chapel.

They offered to pay GH¢380,000, GH¢400,000, US$1 000,000 and GH¢500,000 respectively, for the huge plot. State valuator Architectural Engineering and Services Limited (AESL), had valued the property in 2002 and priced it at GH¢680,000. It was again valued in 2008 and priced at GH¢1,000,000.

The huge document to President Mills disputed the claim of GPHA’s bid of US$6 million for a property worth US$1 million saying GPHA rather offered the lowest bid (GH¢ 380,000.00) among the four companies that expressed interest in the plot.

Before the land was finally offloaded to Ocean Club Limited, the Forestry Commission demanded for a complete inspection and valuation of the property from Messrs Archisynthesis, Architects and Development Consultants, whose report was certified by Sulemana Mahama and Kobina Mensah Monnah.

The open market price of the land at the time – May 15, 2008 – indicated the going price to be GH¢908.000.00, an update of the 2002 AESL valuation of GH¢641,000.00 on the same property.

After the assessment, the Commission awarded the property to the highest bidder, that is Ocean Club Limited which was represented by Shelta West at an amount of US$1,000,00 an equivalent of GH¢1,300,000.00 at the time.

The Commission contended that Mr. Dartey could not have influenced the selling or the purchase of the property since at the time the land was sold, he was not the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Commission, neither was he in the employ of the Forestry Commission.

The document said that Mr. Dartey was appointed by the Mills administration in October 19, 2009 and so could not have sold the said land to himself in 2008 at the said cost since at the time he was not appointed. Meanwhile, Mr. Dartey has told The Herald that he knew nothing about the ownership of the company that bought the land.

He disclosed that sometime after his appointment by the Mills administration, an officer of the Christ Kingdom Ambassador Chapel came to his office and demanded to have the land in question, which was sold to him, by nullifying the lawful transaction that had taken place, to which he declined. This drew the ire of the officer.

According to him, he believes it is the church official who is behind the petition to President Mills. Mr. Dartey, said this in the presence of some officers who took part in the transaction and disposal of the land.

The document sent to President Mills through the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. Mike Hammah included the advertisement published in the Daily Graphic, a memo dated September 15, 2008, signed by the General Service Manager,

Mr. Raphael Yeboah, detailing the four companies which had bided for the land and the prices they wanted to offer. Also included in the document, were two reports from independent evaluators and two Merchant Bank cheque deposit slips and two receipts issued to the buyers, Shelta West Real Estates.