The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, has revealed that he is convinced his Office has enough evidence to see to it that the former Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Adjenim Boateng Adjei, is prosecuted.
Mr Agyebeng opined that his outfit has a strong case that will ensure that Mr. Adjei along with his brother-in-law, Francis Kwaku Arhin, are punished duly for the charges brought against them. He indicated that the two pleaded not guilty in court today, May 25, 2022 and the court has given directions as to how the trial will proceed in a month’s time.
“I have my firm conviction that we have every evidence to see the accused prosecuted on procurement breaches [charges]. It is in respect of procurement breaches by the former Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) and his brother-in-law, so that is what we are in court for today. Their pleas were taken… We’ll be back to comply with the court proceedings.”
Kissi Agyenbeng
The Special Prosecutor noted that his Office will continue to do its work to ensure that corruption is reduced to the barest minimum in the country.
“As I said during my vetting, I’m going to make corruption very costly.”
Kissi Agyebeng
Meanwhile, the two suspects who appeared before the Criminal Division of the Accra High Court today, May 25, 2022, have been granted bail of GHC5 million with two sureties. With this, the sureties are each to deposit their national IDs with the Court’s registry. Also, following the adjournment of the case to June 28, 2022, the former PPA boss has been ordered to deposit his passport with the court until the final determination of the case.
Charges levelled against former PPA boss
Contained in a statement issued by the Office of the Special Prosecutor on Wednesday May 18, 2022, it stated that Adjenim Boateng and his brother-in-law are facing 18 counts of use of public office for profit. Adjenim Boateng was charged with eight counts of using public office for profit and nine counts of directly and indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract.
Similarly, Francis Kwaku Arhin, the brother-in-law of Adjenim Boateng Adjei, has been charged with one count for using public office for profit.
Prior to this, investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, disclosed that the former PPA boss had allegedly withdrawn all funds from his frozen bank accounts despite a court order not to release cash from his account. Mr Awuni explained that the accounts which were frozen during the investigation by the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, was for a period of which he had to go back to the court to justify why the account should remain frozen.
“In the process, he resigned and left, and it took some time for his successor to take office.”
Office of the Special Prosecutor
The investigative journalist noted that during the period when the new Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, had to take office, Adjenim Boateng went through his lawyers to get a court to lift the order and withdraw all monies from his frozen accounts.
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