Citi News has sighted a correspondence between the Office of the Special
Prosecutor and the presidency which suggests that the recently
publicized exposé by journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni which indicted the
suspended Public Procurement Authority CEO, Adjenim Boateng Adjei had
been a subject of investigation by the state institution for several
months now.
According to the correspondence addressed to the Secretary to the
President, Nana Asante Bediatuo, and sighted by Citi News, the Special
Prosecutor Martin Amidu observed that the issue has been “the subject of
ongoing investigations as part of a report brought to the attention of
this office by the Auditor General Several months ago”.
Although Mr. Amidu stated in the letter to the Presidency that he had
called Mr. Azure to congratulate him on the work done, he noted that his
office has “independently gathered intelligence on this matter and has
been provided with facts and materials from other sources, particularly
from the Audit Service and the Registrar of Companies”.
Mr. Amidu also discounted media publications that his invitation to the
suspended PPA CEO to appear for questioning on August 29 was due to the
instruction from the President.
He said the invitation was done pursuant to an independent investigation
conducted prior to the airing of the documentary by Manasseh Azure
Awuni.
Meanwhile, in another letter from the Special Prosecutor sighted by Citi
News, the Special Prosecutor has praised the presidency for suspending
with immediate effect, the PPA CEO Adjenim Boateng Adjei but questioned
why a similar action was not taken in other cases of corruption he is
investigating.
The fight against corruption, according to the Special Prosecutor’s
letter, must not be “halfhearted, selective or ad hoc” but must rather
be unequivocal and non-discriminatory”.
The Special Prosecutor cited the trial of some five public officers
including an appointee of the government for alleged procurement
malpractice in the Bawku Municipal Assembly and questioned why none of
them was suspended or interdicted like happened in the PPA case.
Mr. Amidu said this situation creates the impression that the government does not “view corruption as a high-risk enterprise”.
