A US based Ghanaian journalist has exposed the finance minister in a scandal he has successfully shielded for years. Kelvin Tailor made the disclosure on his ‘with all due respect” political talk show on LSTV last night.
The scandal which can best be described as the mother of all scandals showed how the current finance minister Hon. Ken Ofori Atta defrauded Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to the tune of 9.5 million Dollars between 1998 and 1999. The scandal is termed the Obotan Scandal.
About Obatan Project
A forensic investigation carried out in 2001 by Worlwide Investment Limited on a joint investment between Enterprise Insurance Company (EIC) and Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) was submitted to President Akufo Addo on 19th September 2017.
According to the report, EIC, a subsidiary of Data Bank limited with CEO as Ken Ofori Atta invited SSNIT to invest in an estate development on parcels of land between Independence Avenue and Osu Avenue in Accra in November 1998. Without doing due diligence, SSNIT bought into the proposal and invested into the project. According to an MOU intercepted by the investigators, the project was named Obotan Developers Limited.
The initial contribution and shares of the players to the project was as follows;
1. Enterprise Insurance Company (EIC) – $1.8m – 45%
2. Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) – $1.6M – 40%
3. Hope Finance Limited – $300K – 7.5%
4. Social Security Bank (SSB) – $300K – 7.5%
Total – $4M – 100%
However in January 1999, SSB and Hope Finance decided to sell their shares and SSNIT was encouraged to buy them in order to become a majority shareholder in the project.
On 26th February 1999, a letter from the board of Obotan instructed SSNIT to pay $2.255M into a Databank account for the 15% shares it was buying from the two share holders. Subsequently, SSNIT made a payment of 5.3 billion Cedis using an exchange rate of 1 dollar to 2400 Cedis (now 24 pesewas) same day through ADB cheque number 109363.
Improprietiesand findings
The audit however discovered that;
1. There was no records to show that SSNIT did any evaluation to ensure the viability of the project before investing in it.
2. The project was executed within a very short period which was against prudent financial management of SSNIT.
3. The property at Independence avenue had three properties. Two were occupied by an Italian and a Russian and the 3rd was occupied by a Nigerian.
4. The Malisa House at Osu avenue was occupied by officials of Data Bank.
5. The occupants never paid rent to Obotan from 1998 to 2001 when the investigation was done.
6. The project had a total land size of 3.5 acres. This according to Ofori Atta was bought at 3.5 million dollars when in actual fact he bought it from CFAO at 1.650 million dollars for his Data Bank.
7. EIC, SSB and HFC did not contribute a pesewa to the entire project yet SSNIT contributed a whopping 9.5 million dollars.
8. Obotan had no office and had no bankers yet SSNIT continued to make payments.
9. Even though SSNIT fulfilled its part of the agreement by paying to the fullest, its contribution to the project, it never benefited from it because there was no cash inflows.
The investigation revealed that all the properties on the land belonged to Data Bank. However it’s managers deceived to invest in them when they were not willing to release same to SSNIT.
Recommendations
The forensic investigation recommended among others that the promoters of the project thus Enterprise Insurance, Data Bank and Awonor Law be prosecuted for
1. Deceiving SSNIT and entincing it to invest in a project which does not exist.
2. Presenting false documents when EIC and other partners did not contribute a pesewa to the project but owed 45% shares.
In conclusion, Kelvin Tailor said Ken Ofori Atta deliberately cooked the idea and had it executed according to plan because he is a hardened criminal. He said the finance minister used the same idea in PDS and Agyapa Scandals.
The sad part of the story is that, this report has been on the desk of the President since 2017 yet nothing has been done about it. Questions are also been asked as to why the investigation was done in 2001 and only submitted to the president in 2017.
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