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An aspiring parliamentary candidate of the North Tongu Constituency in the Volta region who was the former Director of Internal Audit at the Ministry of Health (MoH,) Mr. Christopher Kofi Elebru, has described the ongoing widespread allegations against him to the effect that he was involved in a fraudulent activity at the MoH as “political persecution.”

Consequently, Mr. Elebru called on President John Dramani Mahama to, as matter of urgency, call on the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) to conduct independent investigations into the said allegations.

Mr. Elebru together with the Director of Administration, Mr. Robert Azumah, and Head of Estate, Mr. Michael Kyere-Yeboah, were accused of defrauding the state to the tune of GH ¢646,000 in a contract deal of engaging contractors to do periodic maintenance work on 52 training institutions under the ministry.

According to the claims, the three officials forged documents and engaged in corrupt procurement practices which resulted in them willfully causing financial loss to the state.

Speaking in an interview with journalists after he (Mr. Elebru) appeared before EOCO in Accra yesterday to answer questions on the alleged issue, Mr. Elebru denied ever being involved in such a fraudulent activity during his days at the ministry as was reported in Daily Dispatch and Ghanaian Times on Thursday August 28, 2015.

To this end, he told EOCO to stop persecuting him and instead process him for court for the law to take its course if indeed he was found culpable of the offence.

He explained that 52 different agreements were signed by the contractors of each of the training institutions, implying that, each of the 52 training institutions had its own contractual agreement, noting that each contractor was expected under the agreement to do the maintenance works on furniture sets and building quarterly basis.

Mr. Elebru pointed out that, he suspected the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu Constituency who is also the Deputy Minister of Education in- Charge of Tertiary Education, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, for being the person behind all that was going on.

According to him, Mr. Okudzeto was afraid that he will lose the North-Tongu seat to him in the upcoming National Democratic Congress (NDC) primaries.
That, he claimed, was part of a grand scheme by the deputy minister of education to prevent him from contesting in the impending primaries.

He insisted that, the Ghanaian Times publication was the hand work of Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa just to tarnish his image and make him unpopular before his constituents.

He added: “This political machination started in 2009 and now Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa wants to pursue it to achieve his political agenda but he would not succeed….Okudzeto-Ablakwa should think of how to enhance his public image and leave me alone”.

Mr. Elebru alleged that, the deputy minister has to cause his arrest before the NDC’s November 7, 2015 primaries, an allegation Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa has flatly denied, calling on Ghanaians, particularly the people in the North Tongu Constituency, to treat with the contempt it deserves.

Explaining the facts of the matter, Mr. Elebru admitted that a contract was signed by the Health Ministry during the administration of the former Minster of MoH, the late Major Courage Quashiegah, with some contractors to offer periodic maintenance works on some 52 training institutions in the country.

He said, his involvement in the whole process was only an advice he gave to the Chief Director when he requested for one.

He stressed that, on no occasion was he made to sign documents of the said contractual agreement between the MoH and the contractors.

“As a Director of Internal Audit of the Ministry of Health, I was never involved in the procurement process,” he explained.

He revealed that the contractual agreement which was signed with the contractors requested that contractors provide bank guarantee before the Auditors come in which all contractors did before an advance mobilization fee of 50 per cent of the annual charge for the first year in 2008 was paid to the entities for the 52 maintenance contract works.

“If this is so, then where lies the fraud? If indeed bank guarantees were provided then government of Ghana must fall on the various banks if they think no work was done by these contractors and collect whatever monies were paid to them by the State. Where is the financial loss to the state in this contract? Mr. Elebru asked.

The former director of Internal Audit of MoH mentioned that although he had not played any significant role in the award of the contract, EOCO was always chasing him over the issues, adding that, he was made to sign about five charge sheets but has never been put before court over the offence.

He said, one of the key figures who signed the contract was alive but EOCO failed to interrogate him over the contract they signed.

“You see, I believe that what Okudzeto Ablakwa and his cohorts are doing is to politically persecute me. I am still asking them to tell me where lies the fraud or my involvement in the contract.”

He pointed out that the mere fact that, his brother Mr. Ben Atsu Elebru was the lead contractor who won the contract did not warrant “Ablakwa and his cohorts to chase me over what I knew nothing about.”

Mr. Elebru believed that, the way EOCO was going about the investigation would not serve the interest of the parties involved and as such justice would not be served.

He therefore called on President Mahama to impress upon EOCO to do the right thing.

“I want President John Dramani Mahama to intervene in the continuous harassment and intimidation meted out to me by the EOCO over what I consider as a “wrongly accusation” of my involvement in fraudulent activity that took place at the Ministry of Health between 2008 and 2009.