This follows an investigation by the Office of the Special Prosecutor into the activities of the Northern Development Authority and A&QS Consortium Limited which found corruption and violation of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) by the said public officer holders.
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Special Prosecutor drags Northern Dev. Authority boss, two deputies, one other to court
The Office of the Special Prosecutor has charged Sumaila Abdul–Rahman, the Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Authority, and two of his deputies – Stephen Yir-eru Engmen and Patrick Seidu – as well as the Chief Executive of A&QS Consortium Limited, Andrew Kuundaari for conspiracy to directly or indirectly influence the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract.
Sumaila Abdul-Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Authority
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The Chief Executive of A&QS Consortium Limited, Mr Andrew Kuundaari, will also face criminal prosecution for his role in the scandal.
Before now, President Akufo-Addo had sacked the two deputy CEOs of NDA, Patrick Seidu and Stephen Yir-eru Engmen.
In June last year, the Office of the Special Prosecutor launched an investigation into the operations of NDA and the actions of its Chief Executive and Board Chairman following a formal complaint by a private legal practitioner, Martin Luther Kpebu.
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The investigation focused on suspected corruption and corruption-related offences at the NDA over a contract awarded to A&Q’s Consortium for consultancy services under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme.
The complaint alleged that NDA awarded a contract to A&QS Consortium Limited (hereafter, A&QS) on 28 January 2020 for consultancy services for the supervision of some constituencies in the Upper West Region under the IPEP for the contract sum of Five Million Seven Hundred and Twenty Thousand cedis (GH¢5,720,000.00).
However, upon the exit of the then Acting Chief Executive who executed the contract, the contract sum was illegally increased to Ten Million Four Hundred Thousand cedis (GH¢10,400,000.00) by the removal of the page containing the original figure of Five Million Seven Hundred and Twenty Thousand cedis (GH¢5,720,000.00) and its replacement at page 25 clause 33.1 of the contract with a fresh page containing the bloated figure of Ten Million Four Hundred Thousand cedis (GH¢10,400,000.00) to make it appear as if it is the contract executed by the previous Acting Chief Executive.
Following a painstaking, the OSP discovered that the complaint against the accused officers had merit, hence the directive for the prosecution.
“Mr. Abdul-Rahman, Mr. Engmen, and Mr. Seidu intended their actions to, and their actions did in fact, directly or indirectly influence the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage to A&QS in the procurement for consultants by NDA under the IPEP by pushing through and/or approving and/or contributing to approve and/or contributing to cause the approval for payment to A&QS two (2) invoices totalling Eight Million Three Hundred and Twenty- Eight Thousand cedis Eight Hundred and Forty cedis (GHC8,328,840.00) and exceeding the approved procurement total contract sum of Five Million Seven Hundred and Twenty Thousand cedis (GH¢5,720,000.00) by an amount of Two Million Six Hundred and Eight Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty cedis (GH¢2,608,840.00) with a further outstanding amount of Two Million Seventy-One Thousand One Hundred and Sixty cedis (GH¢2,071,160.00), without lawful authority,” a portion of the OSP’s report says.
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The suspects will have their day in court to defend themselves.
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