A private legal practitioner has petitioned the Attorney General’s office and anti-graft agencies to investigate a possible case of fraud and procurement breaches involving the Bongo District Assembly.
The petition by the private legal practitioner, Dr. Rainer Akumperigya follows an expose by investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni on how officials of the Bongo District Assembly allegedly cashed out thousands of cedis from the account of a contractor who was bidding for a contract with the assembly.
The assembly is said to have withdrawn a total of GHS 187,000 from the contractor’s account at the Maltaaba Community Bank in Bongo.
In the expose, the District Engineer, David Aruk, admired he went to the bank to allegedly withdraw the money.
However, the lawyer believes the withdrawal of the money at the bank constitutes a possible case of procurement breach.
According to the expose, on June 14, 2021, a cash amount of ¢156,520 entered and disappeared from Karim’s account under murkier circumstances than the first withdrawal, this time without any traces.
Manasseh Azure Awuni’s investigations have revealed that both withdrawals were facilitated by officials of the Bongo District Assembly.
The withdrawals, which Karim insists were illegal, were in respect of a shady contract which the Bongo District Assembly allegedly awarded to the management of the assembly using Karim’s company without his permission.
The deal was allegedly fronted by Baba Nsobilla Sebastian, an official of the National Health Insurance office in the Bongo District.
It was reported that Karim’s company, Aporgan K-A Enterprise, was allegedly used by the Bongo District Assembly to award a contract without his knowledge and money was paid into his account and withdrawn without his authorisation.
Karim’s company, Aporgan K-A Enterprise, was awarded a contract in November 2020 to drill 10 boreholes in some communities in the Bongo District. The Bongo District Chief Executive (DCE), Peter Ayinbisa Ayamga, told The Fourth Estate that the contract was fronted by Madam Diana.
In other words, he awarded that contract to Diana. Diana and Karim have told The Fourth Estate that they work together, and there’s no disagreement in the execution of the contract.
The contract sum was ¢219,820, and work was supposed to be completed in six months. The payment was to be made based on the amount of work executed at every stage of the contract for which the contractor raised the certificate for payment.
The consultant for the project, according to the two-page contract, was the head of the works department of the Bongo District Assembly, David Aruk.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
