EOCO arrests Wassa Assembly officials over bribery

The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has arrested Mr Frank Taylor, District Finance Officer of Wassa Amenfi East District Assembly, for bribing EOCO officers who are investigating alleged procurement fraud at the assembly.

Mr Taylor and two others – Aziz Jafaru, District Co-ordinating Director, and Felix Asiedu, District Works Engineer – were interdicted for their alleged involvement in the procurement fraud.

Mr Stephen Baidoo Acheampong, the former District Chief Executive (DCE), and Saaka Alhassan, the former District Engineer, who have been implicated in the alleged procurement fraud, have also been interrogated and granted bail.

After they were granted bail, Mr Taylor offered an amount of GH?15,000 to two staff of EOCO who are investigating the case.

When he was arrested for attempting to bribe a public officer, Mr Taylor said he and three others met and decided to give the money as a gift and not bribe.

Mr Taylor named the three others as Mr Stephen Baidoo Acheampong, ex-DCE; Aziz Jafaru, District Co-ordinating Director; and Felix Asiedu, who together with him decided to give the GH?15,000 as gift to the EOCO staff.

He narrated how the money was paid into his account, which he withdrew to give to the two EOCO officers.

Information available to The Finder reveals that an initial contract sum of GH?199,164.42 for a police barracks at Wassa Akropong jumped to GH?212,073.05, and is currently estimated to cost GH?260,000.

This amount is said to be above the threshold of the assembly, but approval was not sought from the Regional Tender Review Board.

In another instance, the contract for the construction of the Wassa Akropong Government Hospital at GH?410,410.35; the construction of a two-storey six-unit classroom block with auxiliary facilities, also at Wassa Akropong, priced at GH?474,472.95; and the construction of a three-unit classroom block with office at Ntowkrom at a sum of GH?323,111.64 were all beyond the threshold of the district assembly.

Another accusation levelled against the accused staff was that reshaping of feeder roads in the district did not go through any competitive bidding process while contracts awarded were not properly recorded in the contract register.

According to our source, on January 11, 2016, a case of alleged procurement fraud was lodged at EOCO against some staff and former staff of the Wassa Amenfi East District Assembly.

The suspects were arrested on January 27, 2016 and interrogated before they were released on bail on January 29, 2016 to report every two weeks while investigations continue.