Tax Analyst and Consultant, Ali Nakyea, has called for the prosecution of persons at the centre of the Ghana Standards Authority and National Communications Authority financial scandals.
Former Chief Executive of the Standards Authority, Dr George Crentsil has been cited in a 1.2million-dollar scandal, while Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, former Board Chairman of the NCA; William Tevie, former Chief Executive Officer of the NCA; Alhaji Osman, former Deputy National Security Coordinator with the aid of a private citizen, George Oppong, have all also been cited in a 4million-dollar money siphoning scandal.
Even though the government says it is retrieving the monies while investigations continue, Ali Nakyea told Citi News, the individuals must be punished to serve as a deterrent.
“Retrieving the money should be our focus because we do not want to lose out but punishment is necessary to serve as a deterrent to others… My recommendation is that they do not only have to return the money, they need to face what the provisions of the law are, for illegally doing what they did.” We’ll retrieve NCA cash – Mustapha Hamid
His recommendation comes days after the Minister of Information, Mustapha Hamid gave the assurance that government will retrieve money lost through the scandal.
Mr. Hamid further indicated that investigations are currently ongoing to enable possible prosecution of individuals complicit in the scandal.
Three former officials in the John Mahama administration, Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, former Board Chairman of the NCA; William Tevie, former Chief Executive Officer of the NCA; and Alhaji Osman, former Deputy National Security Coordinator are said to have been aided by a private citizen, George Oppong to drain the state of $4 million through a contract for the purchase of eavesdropping equipment for national security.
Reports indicate that an Israeli company, NSO Group Technology Limited was contacted to supply listening equipment at the cost of $6 million, to enable National Security monitor conversations of persons believed to be engaged in terrorism. A local agent, Infraloks Development Limited, was reportedly also charging $2 million to facilitate the transaction, bringing the total sum to $8 million.
But the three, through the said contract, allegedly withdrew $4 million from the accounts of the NCA and have failed to account for it.
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