Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has formally written to the suspended
CEO of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Mr A.B. Adjei, to make
himself available for investigation following allegations of corruption
levelled against him.
In a letter dated Thursday, 22 August 2019, Mr Amidu stated that: “You
are accordingly being invited, both as the Chief Executive Officer of
the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) and a Director and Shareholder of
the said companies to assist in the investigation in pursuance of
sections 29 and 73 of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017
(Act 959) and Regulation 10 of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act
(Operations) Regulations, 2018 (L.I. 2374)”.
He added: “You are hereby requested to come along with all information
and documents including relevant minutes of the Board relating to this
investigation”.
“You are to report to the acting Head of Investigation of this Office
on Thursday, 29th August 2019 at 10 o’clock in the forenoon with the
relevant information and documents herein before requested”.
This is in response to an official request by President Nana Akufo-Addo
for a thorough investigation to be conducted into the conduct of Mr
Adjei, following an explosive report by investigative journalist
Manasseh Azure Awuni in a documentary titled ‘Contracts for sale’.
Mr Awuni exposed Mr Adjei for selling government contracts.
The report revealed that Talent Discovery Limited, a company
incorporated in June 2017, has won several government contracts through
restrictive tendering.
Mr Awuni has also confirmed that the company was engaged in selling
contracts. Undercover encounters with the General Manager of the
Company, Thomas Amoah, revealed that the company was selling a GHS22.3
million road contract to K-Drah Enterprise, a fake company Manasseh used
for the investigation.
This contract was awarded to B-Molie Limited, a company Mr Amoah said was a sister company of TDL.
The company also had for sale a Ministry of Works and Housing contract
to construct a concrete drain in Santa Maria in Accra as well as a
contract to build a one-story dormitory block in the Asante Akim North
District.
After demanding and taking a registration fee of GHS5000 and deposit
from Manasseh’s undercover agent, the General Manager of the TDL, who is
also the one who signs the contracts on behalf of the company handed
over three contracts, when K-Drah Enterprise promised to come on a
particular Thursday and pay for one of the projects.
The Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have confirmed that the
contracts being sold by Talent Discovery Limited are authentic
contracts that have been awarded to the company. The company has had
contracts with the Ghana Water Company (GWCL), Ghana Cocoa Board
(Cocobod), Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GHPHA).
It also has contracts with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Works
and Housing, and four contracts with the Ministry of Special
Development Initiatives to construct dams under the government’s One
Village One Dam Project. Talent Discovery Limited had been shortlisted
for restrictive tendering by the Bank of Ghana for the supply and
installation of air purifiers. The company has also been shortlisted by
the Roads and Highways Ministry for three road contracts and the
evaluation is currently ongoing.
The PPA Board has confirmed that TDL was shortlisted by the Ministry of
Inner Cities and Zongo Development for a contract in 2018. The board
also confirmed TDL was brought to the PPA on 14 occasions for
restrictive tendering approvals.
Such contracts are approved by the PPA, of which Adjenim Boateng Adjei (AB Adjei) is the CEO.
The General Manager of TDL said the company had links “at the top” so
Manasseh Azure Awuni went digging into those behind the company. A
search at the Registrar General’s Department revealed that the two
directors of the company are Adjenim Adjei and Francis Arhin.
Of the two directors and shareholders of TDL, one of them pointed to
the CEO of the PPA, Adjenim Boateng Adjei. The unique spellings of his
“Adjenim” and Adjei are the same as those contained in the registration
document.
But his official name, as found in documents he signs, is not Adjenim
Adjei. He is Adjenim Boateng Adjei, but he uses AB Adjei in official
documents, including approval letters at the PPA.
But there are more clues. Two of the companies of the TDL Group, Frosty
Ice Natural Mineral Water and ABM Logistics Ghana Limited have two
shareholders and directors namely Mercy Adjei and Adjenim Adjei. The Tax
Identification Number (TIN) of the ‘Adjenim Adjei’ used to register the
Talent Discovery Group is the same Tax Identification Number used by
the ‘Adjenim Adjei’ in the companies he jointly owns with Mercy Adjei.
The address of Frosty Ice, a member of the TDL Group, is a street in
Airport Hills, and that is where the PPA boss, Adjenim Boateng Adjei
lives. The investigation also revealed that the wife of the PPA CEO is
called Mercy Adjei, so it was highly probable that the ‘Adjenim Adjei’
of the TDL Group was the same as the ‘Adjenim Boateng Adjei’ of the
Public Procurement Authority.
Further investigation revealed more clues that suggested that the head
of the public procurement authority was the same person who owned the
company engaged in selling government contracts. In March 2018, there
was a funeral in Aburi and the three shareholders in the TDL Group of
Companies and the CEO of the Public Procurement Authority all featured
in the funeral invitation.
The invitation named AB Adjei CEO of the Public Procurement Authority
as a brother of the deceased. It also named Francis Arhin (CEO of Talent
Discovery) and Mrs Mercy Adjei as in-laws of the deceased.
