He said only $64 million of the total amount released for the project, was sunk into the project per a report signed by the President of the Ghana Institute of Surveyors, Dr. John Amaglo.
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Botched Saglemi housing project: Atta Akyea reveals how NDC govt embezzled $114m
The Minister of Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea has revealed that former NDC government officials involved in the botched Saglemi Housing deal embezzled more than $114 million of the $179.9 million paid to the contractor.
Saglemi Housing Project
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According to him, "The Ghana Institute of Surveyors has come out with a report showing that what is on the ground, measured against the money received will bring out a very very huge figure of about $114 million."
In an interview on Accra-based Joy FM, Atta Akkyea said "It is stated in black and white that the amount paid to the contractor is $179,904,752.5.
"It is stated clearly that the total works on the ground are $64 million, the difference is what gives you the $114 million I’m talking about."
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Earlier, the Minister disclosed that former ministers who played a role in the stalled US$200 million Saglmei Housing project will be prosecuted.
He said the NDC former appointees are being investigated by the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service.
Speaking to the parliamentary press corps on Thursday, 8 October 2020, Atta Akyea said the government is committed to ensuring the homes are completed after completion of an audit into the alleged misappropriation of funds.
"In relation to Kufuor’s uncompleted housing structures, the evidence is clear that the Mills government and the Mahama government did not continue it. Then, I was met with this jejune argument that we have abandoned Saglemi. I say, 'No, we have not abandoned Saglemi," he said.
According to him, the Mahama-led administration ripped the country off in executing the project.
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He said: "Saglemi is tinted with embezzlement.
"There's no dispute about it, and I could tell you that the Ghana Institution of Surveyors has come out with a conclusive report to the effect that Saglemi is a rip-off and the amount of money that has been blown in Saglemi is over USD100 million and the housing structures over there do not measure up to the money they've collected," he said.
He added: "So, I'm not here to embarrass anybody; I’m here to say that if you didn’t go into the legalities of it, how do you continue? So, now that we've surrendered the report of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors to CID, now, we can deal with the issue of going to continue."
He stated that the government has not abandoned the Saglemi Housing project.
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He said investigations have commenced into the matter and called on Ghanaians not to politicise issues of corruption on the deal.
He said: "They’ve invited several of them, including Honourable Collins Dauda. They’ve invited them but you see how civil NPP is; we don’t make it like a drama, so, the police are dealing with them. We’re not going to parade people like: 'Look at how they've arrested this man or they've arrested that man'.
"That is how civility is all about. You do not try to embarrass somebody because you think that he’s been investigated by the police. Eventually, the police might say that they do not have anything against the person and you would have embarrassed him.
"So, all those people who were involved in Saglemi, they’ve started inviting them. I'm telling you and even people working in my Ministry, they've started inviting them. So, investigations are ongoing, let's leave the police to do its work. There's no propaganda or party issues about theft, theft is theft."
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