About Me

My photo
I am a business reporter with Daily Guide and Business Guide newspapers published by the Western Group of Companies. I was a general reporter when I joined Daily Guide in 2006, but along the line I realized the need to specialize. So I found business reporting as the best area to specialize and I have been on the desk for about four years now. Since I started reporting on business related issues my interest has being in the areas of telecommunications, the extractive industry (ie. oil, gas and mining), and the Small and Medium scale Enterprise (SME) sector. I have a page dedicated to SMEs in the weekly Business Guide newspaper were I write features on the SME sector in Ghana. In view of this I was adjudged the best SME reporter for 2009 during the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) awards in 2010. This has further motivated me to pursue development driven stories which will help change policies and enhance the livelihoods of Ghanaians. I am a member of the Ghana Journalists Association and an executive member of the Network of Communication Reporters (NCR) in Ghana.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Missing File At A-G’s Dept

By Esther Awuah 

Alfreda Dankyi (right), with her colleague at the Judgement Debt Hearing 
A SENIOR State Attorney at the Attorney-General’s (A-G’s) Department Alfreda Dankyi, yesterday failed to furnish the Judgement Debt Commission with documents covering the payment of $159,149 to a law firm Messers Dewey and Leboeuf for services it rendered to government in 2008.

Mrs. Dankyi told the Commission headed by Sole Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau that her inability to provide the right documents stemmed from the fact that the main file containing the agreement and payments made to the law firm could not be located.
She emphasised that: “Unfortunately, the Chief State Attorney who was handling the file at the time, is on retirement and she is out of the country at the moment. We are still trying to contact her, and at the same time we are also making further searches at our registry to locate the main file which will give us more information on the matter.”
The Solicitor-General was subpoenaed by the Judgement Debt Commission to produce documents on payments made to Messrs Dewey and LeBoeuf who had rendered legal services to government on maritime boundary issues.
The legal firm was thus paid the sum of $159,149 on March 11, 2010, but documents covering the payment cannot be located by the AG’s Department.
DAILY GUIDE’S checks with the Judgement Debt Commission revealed that the exact maritime boundary issue the law firm dealt with is not known.
Mrs. Dankyi who was representing the Solicitor-General was led in evidence by Dometi Kofi Sorkpor counsel for the Judgement Debt Commission.
She was however able to produce documents on the agreement between the Ministry of Justice and Attorney Generals Department and Messrs Dewey and LeBoeuf.
She also tended 11 invoices from Messrs Dewey and LeBoeuf, and an unsigned letter from the AG’s Department to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) authorizing the payments.
She indicated that “I have instructions from the Solicitor-General to let the Commission know that the letter ordering the payment was not signed and that the Solicitor-General is still trying to retrieve the main file from its registry.”
Justice Apau then asked Mrs. Dankyi to make efforts to locate the other documents and furnish the commission with them.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) was also expected to appear before the Commission but according to the Sole Commissioner, he (IGP) did not receive the invitation to appear.
The IGP would therefore be summoned to appear on Wednesday, July 24 2013.
The ‘Commission of Enquiry into the payment of Judgement Debt and Akin’ under C.I. 79 to investigate the frivolous and dubious payments of huge monies to undeserving individuals and companies, was appointed by President John Dramani Mahama after public uproar over the payments in what has now come to be termed as Judgement Debts.
Notable among them is the never-ending case of GH¢51.2million parted to the self-styled National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, which many believed was dubious and frivolous.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)