PPA boss saga: Someone doctored CHRAJ figures – Amaliba

The Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has revealed that the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) understated the amounts in the accounts of the sacked CEO of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Adjenim Boateng Adjei.

“CHRAJ ought to be commended for its work and report. The only problem with the CHRAJ report is that for some reason it understates the amounts disclosed by the bank statements from the three bank accounts of Mr Adjei exhaustively reviewed by the Auditor General for this Office.”

Mr Adjei was suspended from office by President Akufo-Addo following an investigative documentary by Manasseh Azure Awuni, which revealed a company he co-owned has been selling government contracts it won through single-source and restrictive tendering, to the highest bidder.

President Nana Akufo-Addo also directed the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate his appointee for conflict of interest and corruption.

CHRAJ in their report last week recommended to the President to sack the PPA boss and bar him from holding any public office for the next five years.

A detailed report by Mr Amidu explaining why his report delayed revealed that two of his investigators were compromised during the investigations.

“The resolution of the Adjenim Boateng Adjei case was taking too long to investigate because my seconded staff investigators appeared compromised. I, therefore, asked for an interim report to be submitted to the President on the referral on the Adjenim Boateng Adjei case.

“When the first draft report was submitted to me, I felt scandalised. I called a management meeting on August 10, 2020, with the investigators’ and pointed out how the incriminating evidence in their possession was inconsistent with their interim report.

“I suspended all on-going investigations in all cases except those affecting pending cases in Court. I tasked the investigators to tabulate within one week the total deposits Mr Adjei had made into his bank accounts. This is still outstanding to date.”

But speaking on Happy FM’s Epa Hoa Daben with Sefa Dankwa, a member of the communication and legal team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Abraham Amaliba has said that someone from the office of the president doctored and manipulated the reports that CHRAJ boss presented to the president. According to him, it is very rare for two investigative state institutions to give a conflicting report.

“Somebody doctored the report of the CHRAJ boss when he presented to the President because they wanted it to look fine in the eyes of the public. Who is that person who did that?” he quizzes.

“When the report was first presented and it was made public, Kevin Taylor came out and said the figures had been tampered with, I didn’t want to believe that but today I’m believing what he said.”

The Presidency in September 2019 referred conflict of interest allegations against the PPA boss to CHRAJ following an investigation by journalist Manasseh Azuri Awuni.

The CHRAJ finding which has become public among other things said: “The evidence also established a pattern of movement of large volumes of cash through the Respondent’s Bank Accounts between March 2017 and August 2019, far in excess of his known income (Stanbic Bank: USD Account – $516,225.00; Cedi Account – ¢3.83 million; Euro Account – EU54.500; UMB Bank: $110,000). The Respondent could not offer a satisfactory explanation to the source of that huge volume of cash that passed through his bank account between March 2017 and August 2019 (unexplained wealth).”