Mills Boy Blows ¢1.6bn On X’mas Hampers

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Extensive investigations conducted by DAILY GUIDE have led to a startling revelation suggesting that some officials at the Ministry of Information are dipping their hands into state coffers under the pretext of rewarding journalists.

Documents available to DAILY GUIDE reveal how a Presidential aide and member of government’s communication team, Stanislav Xoese Dogbe, is said to have collected GH¢169,000, the equivalent of ¢1.6 billion in a ‘Ghana Must Go’ bag under the pretext of an intensive public education campaign for the 2010 budget statement read by Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor in November 2009.

Mr. Dogbe, who describes himself as a special aide to President Mills, however told DAILY GUIDE that the money was approved by Zita Okaikoi, former Minister of Information as well as the Chief Director of the Ministry, Victor Horla Kwashie Senaya.

According to him, part of the cash was used to buy Christmas hampers for selected journalists and to influence articles published in the media.

The amount of GH¢169,000 was signed and approved by L.F Dzakpa and first released to the Chief Director of that Ministry with a payment voucher dated December 15, 2009, over a month after the budget had been read.

The particulars of payment read “being release of funds to enable the Minister to meet expenses on the public education campaign on the 2010 Financial Budget Statement.”

Interestingly, Stan who enjoys all the privileges of a deputy minister, by virtue of his position as a presidential aide, said the money was expended on activities like organizing an event for the Institute for Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ), radio and television interviews, paid-for feature articles in selected newspapers and a programme for editors of some media houses which were held before and during 2009 Christmas, which he said included hampers given to editors and reporters as Christmas gifts.

Ministry of Information sources have, meanwhile, explained to DAILY GUIDE that government education campaigns were usually carried out by the Information Services Department (ISD) but Director Nee Agiri Barnor was kept in the dark about the money cashed for the so- called education campaign.

The money was released following a memo dated December 8, 2009 from the Director of Finance and Administration of the Ministry to the Principal Accountant with the consent of the Minister, asking for the release of an amount of GH¢169,000.00 to undertake what it described as “media management and co-ordination” in connection with the public education campaign on the 2010 budget.

The request for the money was placed almost a month after the budget had been read. This has raised questions of impropriety since the money did not go to the right channel- ISD- for the public education.

Mr. Dogbe duly acknowledged receipt of the amount from the Principal Accountant of the Information Ministry with a receipt dated December 21, 2009 (3 days to Christmas), indicating it was to “enable me to carry out public education on the 2010 annual budget”, which interestingly was read on November 18, 2009 by the Finance Minister.

Though the stated reason for the release of the amount was for public education on the 2010 budget, it is not too clear what exactly the money was used for, as there is virtually nothing to show for it while Stan stammered through some explanations when contacted.

DAILY GUIDE has learnt auditors are finding it difficult to close the account of the Information Ministry because queries raised have still not been answered.

Workers of the Information Services Department (ISD) have been alarmed at this and other developments at the Ministry, since Stan seems to have taken over most of their roles and responsibilities.

They are equally not happy with the way he seemingly throws his weight about as though he wields more powers than the Director of the ISD, Nee Agiri Barnor who has virtually been sidelined in the running of the Ministry. Stan is in full control of the dissemination of government information and occasionally issues statements on behalf of the two deputy ministers, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and James Agyenim-Boateng.

Stan was however not forthcoming with information about how he spent the GH¢169,000 released to him in cash when contacted, as he initially pretended not to know anything about the money.

In a quivering voice, he said “I don’t even remember”, but quickly changed his statement to: “I know that there was education on the budget activities but I don’t remember what…because… fine, I never handled funds related to that project. So I’m surprised that I would have signed for it.”

He told this paper that he would check with the Chief Director and get back as quickly as possible the same day.

When reached later, he asked for a meeting which he said would be attended by the Minister of Information, John Tia Akologu and the Chief Director, the next day, Friday, so he could explain how he expended the taxpayer’s money since he had managed to secure the needed information on the issue.

When he was called again on his cell phone, he said he could not hear well and after several “hello… hellos”, he suddenly dropped the call.

He later sent a text message saying there had been a change in plan and that he was travelling on an impromptu national assignment with Vice President John Mahama to Cape Coast to launch the National Youth Policy programme, with the promise to give details of the information about how the taxpayer’s money had been spent.

Later when DAILY GUIDE managed to catch up with the presidential aide and a member of the government’s communications team, on the evening of Friday, August 13, 2010, he admitted to signing for and collecting the said money but said he did so on behalf of Zita Okaikoi who was then the sector Minister.

He however claimed “there was absolutely nothing wrong with it”, and emphasized that “I don’t regret signing on behalf of the Minister”, suggesting the money was spent with the minister’s blessing.

When Minister Okaikoi was contacted, she advised DAILY GUIDE to sort it out with the Chief Director of the Information Ministry.

Sakawa Victim Sues Stanchart

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Monday, 13 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Marian Little, the retired British businesswoman who fell prey to internet fraud popularly known as ‘sakawa, through her supposed lover, is putting up a strong legal team to sue one of the leading banks in the country, Standard Chartered Bank (Stanchart), for their alleged involvement in the scam that led to her losing her life-long savings of $100,000.

In an almost two hour-long interview with DAILY GUIDE last Thursday, Marian narrated what could easily pass for a Hollywood movie since the scam was so sophisticated to an extent that even the fraud department of the famous Lois Bank in the United Kingdom, which conducted extensive initial investigations into it before she transferred the $100,000 to her supposed lover’s account in Ghana, could not detect anything.

Marian claims to have sighted the account dossier of her victim, the 25-year-old boy, who used the name of Frederick Stark to dupe her in what was supposed to be a love affair, and realized that the bank broke all protocols in the banking since it failed to do due diligence in the discharge of its duties.

So far, five people including the 25-year-old principal suspect who used the name Frederick Stark, his supposed 22-year-old daughter, Agnes Anang and a staff of the Tudu branch of Standard Chartered Bank have been arrested and are facing trial in at a High Court.

According to her, the money hit the account on Monday, September 14, 2009, two working days after it was transferred from the UK and was surprised why the management of the bank allowed an amount of GH¢50,000 to be cashed from an account which had known very little or no transaction the very morning the money hit it.

Later the same day, she narrated, the supposed Fredrick Starke went to cash another GH¢40,000 and came back on Wednesday to remove another GH¢20,000 and a further GH¢31,000.

On the Thursday, she stated, he withdrew GH¢51,000, saying “and nobody checked with me where the money had come from, whether the reasons he gave that he got it were true. I had no knowledge at all that money had arrived and was being taken out of that account.”

“There is an undercurrent here, I have to say the youth because I’m not sure, they don’t use their names but most of it, coming back to it, feels like it’s payback time for the whites.

They’ve come; they’ve stolen our gold and its time for us to fight back,” she noted, emphasizing that gradually, Sakawa is becoming an institution in Ghana because it is controlled by some high-profile personalities, some of who are not in the country but supervise the activities and operations of these syndicates.

From the narration that she gave, the account that was used to dupe her was opened for just that purpose since it was not a running account.

Marian said the fact that the owner of the account, who happens to be her supposed lover, claimed to be a sole trader when he was going to open the account and considering the fact that no serious transactions had occurred in it for the whole 18months that it was opened as well as the spate of withdrawals, should have prompted the bank and its management to investigate it when the money hit the account.

She could therefore not fathom why a highly-rated bank such as Stanchart would allow itself to be used for such a scam in which they presented the said account as a dollar account when indeed it was a cedi savings account.

Marian was therefore not the least surprised that a staff of the bank had been named and currently standing trial in connection with the case.

The retired businesswoman is bent on not just getting justice but also exposing the schemes that these fraudsters use on their unsuspecting victims in order to help reduce the spate of internet fraud in Ghana.

Though down, she stated that it is not the end of the road for her since she is more than willing to help the police and other security agencies in Ghana with her little experience to clamp down on the activities and operations of these scammers.

Meanwhile, Attorney General and Minister of Justice Betty Mould-Iddrisu has indicated her interest in seeing to the case having logical conclusion, since it is tarnishing the image of Ghana internationally; hence transferring the case from a circuit to a High Court.

Marian was hoping to enjoy the full benefits of her retirement with her ‘internet lover’ but she ended up being duped when she transferred part of her life-long savings to Frederick Stark who claimed to be a retiring American Colonel.

She however has a glimmer of hope in the country’s judiciary and the security agencies, with the conviction that at the end of the day, she can get justice or better still get her money back since the Serious Fraud Office, the Attorney General’s office, the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service and the British High Commission in Ghana all have an interest in the case.

‘Rawlings Is Doomed’

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Thursday, 09 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The struggle for power in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was taken to another level yesterday when Mills’ bloc claimed victory over the founder, Jerry Rawlings and his faction.

This was when a member of the Mills’ camp, Alhaji Iddrisu Bature, made claims on Adom FM’s morning show that the Mills camp had succeeded in taming or confining Rawlings to the cooler.

Bature was responding to claims by a youth activist of the party and General Secretary for the Youth for Leadership (YFL), a pro-Rawlings group, Sacut Amenga-Etego that President Mills ‘lacks wise counsel’ in his administration.

Sacut stated in his latest articles to the press that he was sure the biggest problem of President Mills was that of the lack of wise counselors, noting with emphasis “I’m even surer that he needs an inclination for that kind of desired wise counsel- an inclination the president has woefully failed to demonstrate since he became President.”

He proceeded to ask a rhetorical question: “why, how can any leader ever lead successfully without the benefit of such counsel?” stressing “perhaps, only in an Atta Mills Presidency can people delude themselves with such a notion.”

Among other things, the youth activist claimed that the President was not living up to the virtues of the June 4 revolution on which the NDC, as a party, was founded.

These claims by Sacut triggered Alhaji Bature to shoot out of his shell, strongly defending President Mills.

In the heat of the argument on the radio, Alhaji Bature said people like Sacut meant nothing to the Mills camp since they had ‘finished’ the founder of the party, adding “don’t you see we have finished Rawlings. Why can’t we hear from him again?”

Bature wondered what Sacut and his other colleagues who made claims of owing unflinching allegiance to Jerry Rawlings could do since they are now ‘small flies’.

For him, the only thing that these Rawlings followers could do, would be to destroy the chances of the party in 2012 and not that of Mills as a person since according to him, the President was God-given and the best thing to have happened to Ghana as a country.

“What is the difference between you that you cannot use official channels to resolve, you need to go to the media often to expose and embarrass the President,” he asked.

Instead, Bature said Professor Mills was prepared to resign as President and nothing would happen to him, predicting that “it is the NDC that will suffer.”

However, spokesman for the former President, Kofi Adams said nobody could confine Rawlings to silence and that he would speak when he had to.

“Who is in the position to do so? When he has to talk, he will talk.”

Mr. Adams laughed away suggestions that Alhaji Bature is a leading member of the NDC since according to him “we don’t have anything like a leading member.

We have executives; I don’t know him as a leading member. Who does he lead in the NDC?”

That notwithstanding, he said the founder of the party would not allow any individual or group of persons to influence his thoughts and that he would speak when the need arose.