Source: newsthemegh.com
Four Northern Development Authority (NDA) executives have been charged with 11 new offenses by the Office of the Special Prosecutor for allegedly breaking procurement laws.
Sumaila Abdul Rahman, the former CEO of the NDA, his assistants Stephen Yir Aru Engmen and Patrick Seidu, as well as the CEO of A&Q Consortium, are among the defendants.
They were given bail in the amount of GHC 2,000,000 with an April 18, 2023 reappearance date after entering a not guilty plea to all counts.
Investigations into possible wrongdoing at the NDA over a contract given to A&Q Consortium for consulting supervision services under the Infrastructure for Poverty Elimination Programme were started by the Office of the Special Prosecutor last year (IPEP).
Martin Luther Kpebu, a private attorney, filed a grievance that led to the investigations.
A&QS Consortium Limited was purportedly given a contract by the NDA for consultant services in the Upper West Region for a cost of GHC5,720,000, but the lawsuit claimed that the amount was later improperly inflated to GHC10,400,000.
There are now 11 new charges against the defendants, including corruption by a public officer, after the initial charge of conspiracy to commit a criminal offense of directly or indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract was dropped.
Investigations conducted by the Special Prosecutor showed that the accused attempted to influence the procurement procedure in order to give A&QS an unfair advantage by requesting an increase in the approved procurement total contract sum of GHC4,680,000.