A GHANAIAN MP BOUGHT A HOUSE IN USA WITH LOT OF CASH:

Time for MP for Tema West, Irene Naa Torshie Addo, to reveal the source of her fund…
..

Corruption scandals in Ghana have plagued the nation, triggering massive government officials to purchase homes in the US and other foreign countries.
The cauldron of corruption, which in Ghana is always bubbling quietly in the background, has suddenly erupted in another real estate related story.
Parliamentary State Affairs Committee must categorically direct the government and a committee to investigate the Abuse of Authority by these government officials/Public Servants and bring those guilty to book.


We are not saying MP's or government officials cannot benefit from buying houses genuinely. What we are against is a situation where MP's and some government officials are taking advantage of their positions in certain areas to the disadvantage of other Ghanaians.
How do high level government officials and public servants who violate the trust placed in them, and the honest services expected of them get away with factors related to punishment?

In another real estate related story FPACC has investigated and discovered that the MP for Tema West, Irene Naa Torshie Addo on April 14th 2010 bought a 4,004Sq ft property HOUSE in Maryland-USA, for Four hundred and thirty thousand ($430,000.00) dollars in CASH.
Besides the four hundred and thirty thousand cash for the property, the HON. spent over one hundred thousand ($100,000.00) renovating the house.

The primary purpose of FPACC is to provide a national process through which a citizen may communicate his/her knowledge of apparent occupational/governmental misdeeds to highly experienced and accomplished investigators for evaluation and possible publication without requiring the identity of the complainant.

The FPACC staff screens the initial and follow-up reports of corruption and those which rise to the level of reasonable suspicion are provided to investigative reporters located in the respective geographic areas or those who have subject matter expertise for further action.

Fellow countrymen our country is being destroyed by bad governance, some of our leaders who are un-nationalistic with bankrupt ideas are ripping us to disaster. How can few privileged ones enjoy, whiles the majority of Ghanaians are reeling under poverty and hopelessness.
Ghana is a country of freedom and justice where the ordinary citizen demands to know how some of our leaders can cough so much CASH to buy houses in US and elsewhere while these same leaders are urging the nation to brace itself for hard times.
We at FPACC challenge the Hon MP to come forward to explain to Ghanaians and for that matter the IRS where she got this whopping amount of money to purchase the said property, when she is taking less than $5000.00 a month as a Member of Ghana’s Parliament.
We also urge Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC)—the body that oversees the welfare of MPs and staff—to appoint a special committee to review and make recommendations on how some of their staffs are coughing so much CASH to acquire properties in Ghana and abroad.
Ghanaians will also like to know from the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) why the Bill of Rights has become a stalemate.
We are waiting!
Joe Antwi-Bosiako, CFE, CICA, QC,
Head of FPACC Investigative Unit

Ghana adjudged least bribe-taker in WA

Ghana continues to show the lowest level of bribe-taking along the sub-region’s primary road corridors, an official report has disclosed.

This was contained in the 14th report of the Improved Road Transport Governance (IRTG) initiative which seeks to institute good road governance along primary road corridors.

The initiative monitors and reports on the check points, the length of days, and the value of bribes drivers pay when hauling goods along the Tema – Ouagadougou, Ouagadougou – Bamako, Lome – Ouagadougou, Bamako – Dakar, Abidjan – Ouagadougou, and Abidjan – Bamako corridors.

The report showed that the average number of controls per 100 km is two, while the average bribe per 100 km varies between $ 2.18 in Ghana and $13. 96 in Cote d’Ivoire. The average time of delays per 100 km vary between 14 minutes in Togo and Ghana up to 28 minutes in Senegal.

While Cote d’Ivoire topped the list with US$13.96 collected per every 100 kilometers with the Forces Nouvelles accounting for US$11.76 of the amount, the police accounting for US$ 0.81, the Gendarmerie taking US$0.54 and others accounting for US$0.46, Ghana recorded US$2.18 with the police taking US$1.19 of the amount, Customs taking US$0.86 and Immigration taking US$ 0.13.

However, the Tema-Ouagadougou corridor ranked the lowest among the six corridors collecting an average of US$3.70 per 100km or US$39.12 per truck for the entire corridor.

Among the six countries covered, Cote d’Ivoire collects the highest amount of bribes followed by Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Ghana.

In terms of delays, the Bamako – Dakar corridor leads with an average of 30 minutes lost per 100 km for a total delay of 7 hours 21 minutes throughout the entire corridor.
The corridor Abidjan – Bamako has the lowest delays with an average of 15 minutes per 100 km.

Among the six countries covered, Senegal has the highest delays followed by Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Togo.

The last quarter of last year which is the period under review ended with a 2.5 % increase in controls, a 3.1% increase in bribes, and a 74% increase in delays in comparison with the previous quarter on the six main corridors covered by IRTG.

Road harassment on interstates corridors across West Africa costs states tens of thousands of US dollars a month obstructing the path to sustainable economic growth.

The report stated, “the extent of road harassment on West African trade routes is staggering and its impacts are harmful for national and sub-regional economies.” The data analyzed was collected by legal truck drivers in Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Senegal and Togo.

The persistence of road harassment on the various corridors underlines the inadequacy of current efforts by the current ECOWAS Trade Liberalizations Scheme.

The IRTG project is an ECOWAS and UNEMOA initiative established in 2005 with technical and financial support of USAID’s West Africa Trade Hub and with financial support from the World Bank’s Transport Policy Program in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSATP).

The IRTG project asks West African states to take action in reducing road harassment on their main corridors to achieve good road governance for sustainable economic development.



Source: B&FT

Kosmos to pay $15 million fine

Kosmos Energy has agreed to pay a fine of $15 million to the Ghana Government for disclosing data on the Jubilee oil field without the government's consent.

That followed the peaceful resolution of a dispute between the Government of Ghana and Kosmos.

The fine also includes the company's spillage of low toxicity crude on the high seas.

According to sources close to the company, Kosmos is expected to raise $500 million through the floating of shares on the US stock market, part of the amount of which would be used to pay the fine, as well as expand the company's operations in Ghana.

They disclosed that the company had resolved its differences with the government and looked forward to a “long and fruitful relationship with it which will, in the long run, reap benefits for both parties.”

The Minister of Energy, Dr Joe Oteng-Agyei, confirmed the resolution of the differences, but declined to give details, pointing out that “the government will always protect the interest of Ghanaians.”

According to him, Kosmos had publicly disclosed its intention to float its shares, as well as pay the fine, adding, “For that reason, let us leave it at that.”

Kosmos Energy and its partners discovered oil in commercial quantities in June 2007 and they are currently lifting oil from the oilfield.

The government has so far been paid US$112, 189, 575.52, being Ghana's share of the first lifting of oil from the Jubilee Field.

The money has so far been paid to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) following the first lifting of oil on April 13, 2011.

The amount represented the five per cent royalty portion of the total first lifting of crude oil by all partners for the period.

Kosmos's Initial Public Offering (IPO) Prospectus filed with the SEC on Thursday, April 14, 2011 stated that it would use proceeds of the IPO to fund capital expenditure.

It further disclosed in the document that it would make a $15 million payment to the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) upon the successful completion of the IPO, pursuant to the settlement agreement entered into with the GNPC to resolve past disputes and for general corporate purpose.

The company estimated that its net proceeds from the sale of 30,000,000 common shares in that offering would be approximately $477.7 million, after deducting estimated offering expenses.

Each share is going for $17.

“We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering, available cash and borrowings under our commercial debt facility to fund our capital expenditures and in particular our exploration and appraisal drilling programme and development activities through early 2013, our related operating expenses, to make a $15 million payment to the GNPC upon the successful completion of this offering, pursuant to the settlement agreement we entered into with the GNPC to resolve our past disputes and for general corporate purposes, it pointed out in its prospectus to the Sea.

“We estimate that we will incur approximately $500 million of capital expenditures for the year ending December 31, 2011. This capital expenditure budget consists: $175 million for development in Ghana; $225 million for exploration and appraisal in Ghana; $30 million for exploration and appraisal in Cameroun; $30 million for new ventures to expand our license portfolio (including geological and geophysical expenses), and $40 million in unallocated funds which are available for additional drilling and licensing costs and activities,” it added.

Kosmos further stated that the ultimate amount of capital it would expend might fluctuate materially based on market conditions and the success of its drilling results.

“Our future financial condition and liquidity will be impacted by, among other factors, our level of production of oil and natural gas and the prices we receive, from the sale thereof, the success of our exploration and appraisal drilling programme, the number of commercially viable oil and natural gas discoveries made, the quantities of oil and natural gas discovered, the speed with which we can bring such discoveries to production and the actual cost of exploration, appraisal and development of our oil and natural gas assets,” the document added.


Source: Ghanaweb.com

CAFAC’s refutes Fraud Alert Claim by FPACC

CAFAC’s Press Release to refute Fraud Alert Claim by FPACC

CAFAC Ghana Limited wishes to move swiftly to vehemently discount claims by the FPACC (a Ghanaian entity) that CAFAC (also a registered entity in Ghana) is a fraudulent organization. The basis of the claim put out by FPACC is that some of the names associated with CAFAC claim to be members of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners when in fact they are not.

To combat this FPACC claim, CAFAC wishes to state in categorical terms that the founders of CAFAC -Hector O. Boham and Sam Rockson Asamoah are full- fledged bona fide paid up members of the ACFE. Hector O. Boham is a Certified Fraud Examiner with membership #52048 and Sam Rockson Asamoah is a Faculty /Educator member with membership # 586492

Trony Clifton is a faculty member who was not an ACFE member at the time of CAFAC’s 1st press release. Trony was working on his membership of the ACFE and unlike the typical African professional who never admits a mistake we at CAFAC admit that an honest mistake was made. It was a typo by our web designers and when it was discovered it was not repeated in all subsequent material contents put out for public consumption. CAFAC’s web site for example has Trony’s correct credentials which are CPA, CISA, CISM, CSEIGT, and CSIR. In the half page advertisement we took out in the Daily Graphic on April 26, 2011, Trony’s correct credentials were clearly stated.

Trony himself is not required to have the CFE designation because his area of specialization is Information Technology audits and controls. However he has always expressed the desire to gain that designation. Therefore, he took advantage of the actions of FPACC to consummate his ACFE membership. Trony’s membership number is 607047

It will be presumptuous on our part to conclude definitively that the actions of FPACC were motivated by malice and in fact we can go as far as to say that in a strange sort of way their actions may have been a mixed blessing for us-in so far as it hastened the finalization of Trony’s ACFE membership.

From the cumulative force of the above, we wish to submit to FPACC to cease and desist from any publication that seeks to suggest that CAFAC is a fraudulent organization. We request a complete retraction of their press release and fraud alerts about CAFAC from their website and from any other publication that such press release has been sent to. Please note that the FPACC is not a Ghana government entity to suggest that CAFAC is a fraudulent organization. The only entity in Ghana that can do that is the Registrar General’s Department. FPACC, therefore, cannot take the law into its own hands and warn that the general public be (weary as initially stated in their press release) of CAFAC. We believe they meant to say be “wary of”. We know that it is not unusual for some people or bodies in Ghana to take the law into their own hands and act as if they are the masters of all that they survey. It may be prudent to ask about what the FPACC has done to train hungry Ghanaian professionals who want to seek knowledge to qualify for the CFE designation, except to promise them of non-existent jobs.

We at CAFAC are very much unlike your typical African professional who is selfish, greedy, corrupt, a cheat and a thief, fault-finding, pull-him-down (PHD), who does not help others, wants to amass all wealth for himself so that he can lord it over all others and make the rest of society poor, oppressors, never admitting his mistake, always right, always perfect and the list goes on. To the contrary we believe in collaboration and we believe strongly that the fight against fraud and corruption in Ghana and for that matter the whole of Africa requires all hands on deck. In fact that is the very message on the very 1st page of our website.

We at this time wish to extend an olive branch to FPACC and for that matter any other organization that is serious about stamping out corruption in our dear country. “Join us or we join you - the sequence is inconsequential.” This is not the time for back biting, witch hunting and fishing expeditions - nor is it the time for “one up-manship.” We believe no one organization should think that it has all the answers in this fight. This is a fight that must be fought and won together. And when final victory is won the winner will not be the organizations and institutions fighting the war but the people for whom the battle is being fought.

Finally CAFAC sincerely believes that fighting fraud and corruption is not a “zero-sum game” where there are winners and losers. And especially on the side of those of us who are waging the war- we are all winners. Even those we are waging the war against will become winners if they heed our message and change their ways. In the end it is society that wins and when society wins we all win.

Thank you very much for your time.

Respectfully submitted

Hector O. Boham and Sam Rockson Asamoah (Co-Founders of CAFAC Ghana Ltd)

Distributed to:
Ghanaweb
Ghana News Agency
Modern Ghana and out of respect and decency to FPACC

Source: CAFAC