NDC kickbacks paid through UK bank

Additional information available to The Statesman on the allegation of kickback payments from Cotecna (70% owners of Gateway Services Ltd) to the National Democratic Congress from 1993, deeply implicate the convicted former Trade Minister Dan Abodapki and former President Jerry John Rawlings.

Also, the Serious Fraud Office has been frustrated by Cotecna in its efforts to trace alleged transfers of illegal payments made by the company to NDC officials through a London account at the National Westminster Bank. The company, through the GSL, controlled the multi-million dollar pre-shipment inspection business in Ghana under the NDC.

The claims, which include a $500,000 illegal payment to the coffers of the NDC for the 1996 elections, were made by the local facilitator of the shipment inspection company, after his contract was terminated by the Swiss-based company, infamous for corruption around the world.

Cotecna, in a response, dated 26 January 2004, to a written query from the Serious Fraud Office of the same month wrote: "We wish to confirm that Cotecna entered into a contract with Mr George Mould on the 14th January, 1993, under which he was to provide consultancy and public relations services on behalf of Cotecna and for which Cotecna agreed to pay him 7% of the emoluments derived from the contract.

However, Cotecna refused to state what the total sums paid to Mr Mould was, saying it “would be very difficult (if at all possible) to trace all bank transfers from 1993 to 1996,” because in “Switzerland, banking records are usually not kept for more than 5 years.”

But, the SFO, felt the Swiss company, which has an international reputation for paying kickbacks that have ended at least one former head of state with a conviction, was of the view that the company was being uncooperative because it was afraid of opening itself up on the alleged kickbacks it was paying to the NDC government at the time.

According to documents sighted by The Statesman, the SFO was accusing Cotecna of aiding and abetting Mr Mould to evade taxes on his earnings by failing to disclose to the statutory body the total sum of transfers made from Switzerland to Mr Mould foreign bank account with the National Westminster Bank, Cricklewood, London

The letter signed by the father and son who head Cotecna, Robert Michel Massey (CEO) and Phillippe Alain Massey (senior Vice President) said after they abrogated the contract with Mr Mould in 1996, he received a final settlement of $80,000.

Years after this payment, the company alleges that Mr Mould attempted to re-open the matter by demanding for more money, putting a lot of undue pressure on the company.

“This pressure has come in various forms, for example, by threats to publish letters and articles in the newspapers, by threats to make reports to the Serious Fraud Office, and by making wild and unsubstantiated allegations about the reasons for the termination of the contract, to the extent of making allegations that Mr Dan Obodakpi [sic] and other government officials had put pressure on Cotecna to abrogate the contract.”

Also, information available to The Statesman suggests that after George Mould, an old pal of Mr Rawlings, lost his consultancy job with Cotecna, the Deputy Trade & Industry Minister at the time, Dan Abodakpi then effectively took over as 'agent' of the company. He had been accused by Mr Mould of dubiously operating “to halt any further payments to my person.”

However, Mr Abodakpi, who denies the allegation, filed a 1,700-word rejoinder to The Statesman which will be published in full Monday.

In his explosive letter, Mr Mould mentions Charles Moukarzel, as an associate, the man Mr Abodakpi said in open court was paying for the international school fees of his children, an amount he said he did not bother to check.

Also in his letter, Mr Mould mentions having discussions with the First Lady at the time, presumably Mrs Rawlings, in his bid to win contracts for Cotecna in other West African countries, such as Guinea and Gambia, with the promise that even there 1.5% of the contract sum would accrue to the NDC in Ghana.

Some of the names mentioned include the lawyer, Bright Akwettey, with whom Mr Mould allegedly worked on the Gambian deal for Cotecna.

Mr Mould, the former $20,000 a month local agent of Cotecna, and a former Air Force Pilot, incriminates his old pal, Mr Rawlings, “As it stands, the President cannot claim innocence of soliciting funds from the Masseys.”

Cotecna is owned by a Swiss family - the Masseys – with Elie Massey as chairman and Robert Massey, as chief executive. Mr Mould discloses striking the deal with Elie.

Cotecna a world player in custom inspections from Iran to Mali has been accused of bribing state officials to win contracts. The 2003 controversial conviction of Pakistan"s two-term leader for taking bribes from them has added credence to a letter written by the old pal of Rawlings in 1996 over Cotecna’s alleged kickbacks to the NDC and Mr Rawlings.

Ms Bhutto, the former Pakistani leader was convicted on bribery charges on a Cotecna deal, in which the money was paid to companies registered in the British Virgin Island. One such firm, Bomer Finance which received $8.2m had Ms Bhutto’s husband as the beneficial owner. The other, Nassam Overseas, which received $3.8m, had Nasir Hussein, Ms Bhutto’s brother-in-law, as the beneficial owner.

The apparent implications of the Pakistani scandal in Ghana cannot go amiss. Cotecna Inspection, the 70% owner of Gateway Services Limited, in 1999 won the bid to hold a virtual monopoly over the inspection of goods imported through our seaports. It acquired an X-ray scanner capable of scanning 20/40 foot containers with a loan which was guaranteed by GSL’s 7% owner, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.

GPHA paid for its equity stake with land, which was bizarrely valued in 1999 at ¢7 million at ¢1 per share. Ironically the ¢7m is even smaller than the annual rent payment of $10,000 for the property. The loan guarantee is for 25 years, while the GSL contract with Government of Ghana is for ten years.

Prior to that, from 1972 to 1994 SGS was the only company mandated to do the inspection. Robert Dougal Watt, a former auditor of the European Court of Auditors, Luxembourg, who blew the whistle on some of Cotecna’s alleged corrupt deals, disclosed.

“In 1994, SGS acquired Cotecna, an American-owned, Swiss-registered company. “He added, “In 1997, Cotecna was sold back to its original owners. It is currently active in many developing countries, verifying compliance with World Bank and IMF loan conditions; a task which gives its staff close links with national elites and great financial and economic influence.”

With 30 years behind it, Cotecna is big in the field of internationally traded goods. Their main expertise lies in the provision of services to custom authorities of developing and emerging countries, currently with deals in about 7 West African countries.

Yet, their modus operandi of winning contracts have come under some scrutiny since Kroll Associates, the firm of US private investigators, staffed with former CIA agents, brought to public attention in 1997 the set of incriminating SGS and Cotecna documents apparently stolen from the safe of the Bhutto family lawyer in Switzerland.

On such document was a 29 June 1994 letter signed by Cotecna boss, Robert Massey, addressed to Ms Bhutto’s Swiss lawyer and trustee, Jens Schllegelmilch. Three such letters commenced thus: “Should we receive, within six months from today, a contract from the Government of Pakistan for the inspection and price verification of goods imported in Pakistan, we, COTECNA INSPECTION SA, Geneva will pay… on the total amount invoiced and paid to us by the government of Pakistan for such a contract during the whole duration and its renewal.”

One was addressed to a company called Marston Securities Inc. of Virgin Island, promising it 6% of the amount billed. That firm was later replaced by Bomer Finance, account of which received the $8.2m payments, overseen by Ms Bhutto;s lawyer Herr Schlegelmilch who ended up being convicted under Swiss law.

In April 15, 1999, Lahore’s high court sentenced Ms Bhutto and her husband to 5 years imprisonment and fines of $8.6 million on the Cotecna deal. But Pakistan’s Supreme Court overturned the finding tow years later, alleging political bias and ordering a re-trial. Bhutto, who has lived in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai since 1998, refused to return to Pakistan for the retrial and was convicted for absconding.