The Minister of Information, Mustapha Hamid has said investigations are currently ongoing to enable possible prosecution of individuals complicit in the money siphoning scandal at the National Communications Authority (NCA).
Mr. Hamid, on Eyewitness News said government is awaiting the outcome of the Bureau of National Investigation’s (BNI) probe into the matter to take a decision on the fate of the culprits.
“Investigations are a long process, and as the lawyers will tell you, an act of criminality ought to be proven until beyond reasonable doubt and so my understanding from the BNI is that they haven’t completed the investigations. They’ve gone beyond the statements and the admission and the paying back of the money that they have started,” he explained.
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.
Mr. Hamid added that government is currently focused on retrieving the monies from the accused persons.
“There are other things that ought to be established, but for now the concentration is on retrieving the money that cannot be end of the case but investigations will determine at what point they believe that they gathered all the facts that will enable them make a convincing case before a judge or any judicial panel they may be made to face,” Mr Hamid added.
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