The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO)
has reportedly frozen the bank accounts of Daniel Ohene Agyekum, former Board
Chairman of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) during the erstwhile National Democratic
Congress (NDC) administration.A source at EOCO told DAILY GUIDE
yesterday that the action had been taken as part of efforts towards the
investigation of alleged financial irregularities during the tenure of Dr.
Stephen Kwabena Opuni as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of
COCOBOD.
Mr. Ohene Agyekum, who was Ghana’s former Ambassador to the
United States and former Ashanti Regional Minister, was appointed board chairman
of COCOBOD in January 2014.
Recently, the assets and bank accounts of Dr.
Opuni were also frozen by EOCO as part of a similar investigation into some
contracts the ex-COCOBOD boss reportedly signed during his tenure and financial
irregularities uncovered by the New Patriotic Party (NPP)
government.
Specifically, government intends to probe some supposed
fraudulent multi-million dollar contracts he’s believed to have signed before
leaving office.
EOCO, under its new Executive Director, ACP KK Amoah,
recently sent invitations to some businessmen who won some contracts from
COCOBOD.
One of them is Seidu Agongo, who was invited in connection with
an ongoing investigation into shady COCOBOD contracts about which so much has
been published in the media in recent times.
Ali Seidu and Kofi Job were
the first to be invited by EOCO regarding the contracts awarded them during the
NDC regime because of their supposed links with former President John Dramani
Mahama and his brother Ibrahim.
The COCOBOD contracts to construct roads
and supply fertilizers were sole-sourced and in a manner thought to have
breached value for money principles, with a chunk of the contracts going to the
three individuals.
Dr. Stephen Opuni is at the centre of the alleged
instances of financial impropriety at the national cocoa management institution
and under whose aegis many contracts were awarded in breach of best procurement
practices.
In the next few days important details of the investigations,
it is believed, would be made public, considering the grounds covered by the
investigators so far, a source has hinted.
Many calls had been made on
the government of President Nana Akufo-Addo to without delay take action on the
many instances of shady contracts at COCOBOD.
It is alleged that some of
the fertilizers supplied under one of the contracts turned out to be ironically
killer inputs which caused enormous anguish to farmers.
Dr. Opuni was on
January 12, 2017 asked to vacate office barely a week after the NPP government
was inaugurated.
The former CEO of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) was
appointed by former President John Mahama on November 30, 2013 to head
COCOBOD.
Since then the sector has never been the same again, with cocoa
production alarmingly dropping under his tenure as well as allegations of
malfeasance leveled against him.
Currently, issues of alleged corruption
in the cocoa sector are being investigated and he can be brought before the
court of law if EOCO finds any concrete evidence of financial malfeasance
against him.
There have been calls for probe into the administration of
the former COCOBOD boss since the New Patriotic Party, led by President Nana
Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, took office about six weeks ago.
Some staff of
COCOBOD alleged that Dr. Opuni awarded contracts without following laid-down
regulations and that fertilizers meant for cocoa farmers were also alleged to
have been smuggled into neigbouring countries.
The workers claimed Ghana
lost more than $10 million because of the alleged dealings of Dr.
Opuni.
Managers Sacked
About 11 top managers of COCOBOD were also
directed by the government to proceed on leave after the dismissal of Dr
Opuni.
The directive, which was contained in a letter signed by the
Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto, asked the affected
managers to proceed on leave effective January 30, 2017.
The managers
included Deputy Chief Executive (Finance & Administration), Deputy Chief
Executive (Agronomy & Quality Control), Deputy Chief Executive (Operations)
and the Director of Finance.
The rest were Deputy Director of Finance,
Deputy Director of Audit, Director of Civil Works and the Procurement
Manager.
At the Cocoa Marketing Company Ltd, the Managing Director (MD),
Deputy MD, Director, Legal Services, Deputy Director and the Finance Director
have reportedly been asked to go home.
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