[ 2014-12-22 ]

Afriyie-Ankrah , GNPC, World Cup Cttee fingered in 'kickback' scandal
Joy News investigation has uncovered alleged
payment of kickbacks from E-Volution International
to Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, the Ghana National
Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and the operations
committee of the Brazil 2014.

E-Volution International, an events and marketing
agency, was awarded a GH¢ 1 million contract to
organise four public viewing centres in Accra,
Kumasi and Takoradi during the 2014 Brazil World
Cup.

Apart from the Accra Mall, the other three public
viewing centres showed only the three group
matches Ghana played in the tournament.

Manasseh Azure Awuni who has been investigating
this deal reports that three separate internal
payment vouchers in the possession of Joy News
indicate E-Volution International’s approval for
payment of money to former Youth and Sports
Minister, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, the GNPC and the
operations committee of the Brazil 2014 World
Cup.

All the three payment vouchers, dated June 11,
2014, are signed and approved by the C.E.O of
E-volution International, Mr Fred Darko. Mr Fred
Darko was also the project coordinator for the
2014 World Cup.

According to one of the vouchers an amount of
GH¢100,000 was to be paid to Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah
as “production cost (Brazil -2014)”. Below the
signatures on the payment voucher is an
instruction to the Company’s accountant, Alfred:
“Pls deal as PR to Elvis A. Ankrah. FD”

Another payment voucher of GH¢100,000 with the
same description was to be paid to the World Cup
Committee. Below the signatures of approval is an
instruction to Alfred:

“This is honorarium to Brazil 2014 committee
members. Pls deal. FD”

The final internal payment voucher, also dated
June 11,2014, approves payment of GH¢80,000 as
“PR-GNPC (Brazil 2014)” to the GNPC.

Joy News investigation further revealed that the
GNPC cheque of GH¢1million was paid into
E-Volution International account on June 9, 2014.

It was paid with a National Investment Bank (NIB)
cheque number: 076597. The payment was made into
E-volution International Account number
0001124057015 with the Airpot Branch of UT Bank.

On 10th June, 2014, the GH¢100,000 supposedly
paid to Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah was withdrawn from
the company’s account. On June 12th, the
GH¢80,000 allegedly paid to the GNPC was
withdrawn from the company’s account while the
GH¢100,000 allegedly paid to the committee was
also withdrawn from E-Volution International’s
account on June 13th.

Joy News sources say the GNPC awarded the contract
to E-Volution International without subjecting it
to competitive bidding.

The Chairman of the Brazil 2014 Operations
Committee, Mr Joel Nettey, told Manasseh Azure
Awuni last Friday that the committee found it
difficult to find sponsorship for public viewing
centres and was about abandon the idea when the
GNPC stepped in with the sponsorship package.

He said though event organizers such as the
Charter House Productions expressed interest in
organizing the public viewing centres, officials
of GNPC said they would sponsor if only the
contract was awarded to E-Volution International.
The GNPC officials, Joel Nettey said, explained
that E-Volution International was already doing
business with GNPC.

It is not clear why E-Volution would want to pay
money to then Youth and Sports Minister Elvis
Afriyie-Ankrah, the GNPC and the Brazil 2014 World
Cup Committee. Mr Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah has,
however, denied receiving any such amount from
E-Volution International.

“Whoever signed this document, or whoever,
whether the person took it in my name or what, we
need to investigate because nothing like that
happened,” Mr Afriyie-Ankrah told Manasseh.

The Chairman of the World Cup Operations
Committee, Joel Nettey, as well as some members of
the committee, has told Joy News no such money
came to the committee. A source at the GNPC who
was the supposed recipient of the GH¢80,000 has
also denied receiving any such amount.

Lawyer, Company Secretary and Director for
E-Volution International, Alex Abban, told Joy
News the company did not make any payment to the
three categories of persons. When he was asked
about the payment vouchers, he would not deny or
confirm that they were generated from the
company.

“I would not be surprised that these are
documents from E-Volution. I would not want to
challenge that one,” he said, adding that it did
not mean an admission that the documents were from
the company.

When asked about Mr Fred Darko’s signature on
the three internal payment vouchers, he said one
of them appeared forged but refused to comment on
the other two.

“I would not want to say clearly that all three
signatures are forged ones,” he told Manasseh in
an interview. When Manasseh insisted that Fred
Darko, who was present during the interview,
confirm or deny the authenticity of the his
signature, Lawyer Abban said Mr Darko would not
speak on the matter for now.

According to Joy News Sources, the internal
payment vouchers were generated for the purposes
of auditing considering the huge sums of money
involved. This was decided after the first alleged
withdrawal of kickback was done. When asked why
the description “production cost” or “PR”
was written on them, a source said:

“It is just a term used to describe such
transactions. You cannot write bribe or kickbacks
on the payment voucher. If put it that way and
auditors ask, how will you explain that?”

Even though Evolution International has doubted
the authenticity of one of the three signatures on
the payment vouchers, Alex Abban says the
authenticity of the signature is not the most
important issue here.

“What is critical is: was the money paid,
regardless of whether there was signature on it or
not?” he emphasized.

This is the question Manasseh Azure Awuni attempts
to answer as he provides more revelations on this
transaction on Joy Midday News today.

Source - MyjoyOnline

... go Back