TESTIMONY BEFORE the Judgment Debt Commission in respect of compensation payment to Nana Otieku Amoani Asare III, the chief of Apaaso and Adontenhene of Akwamu traditional area suggests that the state was deceived and robbed through the claiming of compensation on behalf of a non-existent community.
Earlier, Nana Asare told the commission that the submerged land belonged to the stool and that his predecessor made mistakes and added the names of occupants of the land to the list of claimants for compensation.
Giving testimonies after petitioning the commission chaired by the Sole Commissioner, Justice Yaw Apau, Nana Kwafo Akomah, a retired timber contractor and a native of Apaaso told the commission that among the 52 resettlement towns there was no town called Ahamandi.
"My petition is based on a press release dated August 25, 2014. I saw that Nana Otieku Amoani Asare, the chief of Apaaso has collected a huge sum of money in the name of some claimants at Ahamandi. That Ahamandi in Akwamu Traditional Area�we don't have Ahamandi, and as a matter of fact, the 52 resettlement towns- there is no village or town that is called Ahamandi."
He told the commission that this amounts to "some sort of fraudulent claim that Nana Otieku Asare crafted to defraud the state and the people of Apaaso."
According to him, one Kwabena Asihene, a cousin of his who died on July 24 and was buried on September 24, 2011, put in a claim for his land before he died and never gave any power of attorney to anybody, but Nana Asare went and claimed the money claiming he had a letter of attorney from the deceased.
"He (Kwabena Asihene, the deceased) had a claim with a file number 65051 and according to records that I have, Nana Otieku collected some monies which belong to Kwabena Esihene which he said he was given a power of attorney, that is not true my brother did not give him any power of Attorney to Nana Otieku or anybody else."
He tendered in documents which suggested that the monies were paid in tranches and that upon realizing that, he wrote a petition to the Eastern regional police commander to investigate Nana Otieku's act.
According to him, though he was charged and the document referred to the Attorney General's (AG) department, the altering of names made it difficult to pursue the case.
"The AG wrote to EOCO to investigate and identify who that Kwabena Asihene was. In fact, EOCO invited me and took statement that they will be coming to Apaaso to investigate."
He intimated to the commission that the investigation conducted by EOCO was not clear because there was no clear notice for everyone to see and that he took Nana Otieku, the Volta River Authority and the land valuation to court because his family land was a matter of dispute. And that though he was granted an injunction, Nana Otieku succeeded in taking GH�47,833.75 and he cited them for contempt. This he said was the reason he petitioned the commission for peace to prevail.
Nana Otieku when he was giving evidence before the commission said he collected an amount of GH�332,306.00 as the first tranche and due to about four court suits on the subject-matter, they have not received further payments.
He also said that they put in a claim of 20,384 acres and had processed 12,000, leaving 8,000 yet to be completed.
Justice Apau advised him to take the matter to court since that issue goes beyond the commission and also because Nana Otieku had collected monies from people he did not have a power of attorney from.
"Why not sue Otieku Amoani Asare in respect of the money he collected in the name of Asihene and Oduro because he was not related to them; meanwhile they are not your relations and had no power of attorney- why not take them to court, specifically in respect of these monies he has collected," Justice Apau advised. Per the commission�s records, a total of GH�185,002.23 was paid as compensation in the name of Ahamandi
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