Central Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Bernard Allotey Jacobs, who was alleged to have been arrested in London for money laundering, yesterday threw caution to the wind when he repeatedly described questions put to him as ‘absolute rubbish.’
Mr Allotey Jacobs, who is currently cooling off in Dallas, Texas, the United States, lambasted journalists who were asking him questions about the trip to the US, describing them as rubbish.
The NDC top notch, who was breaking his silence on the rumours about his alleged arrest at London’s Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom (UK), wondered why Richard Dela Sky of Citi Fm would ask him about the trip to Dallas on the ticket of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), as he wondered the level of his (Allotey’s) competence to warrant such a trip.
Anger
He took offence when Sky asked him of his competence in the area of petroleum to be attending a programme on behalf of NPA, describing the question as not only unnecessary, but also absolutely stupid.
Allotey would equally not answer whether it was a routine for board members of the NPA to fly business class when representing the organisation’s interest outside the country, saying, “Go and ask your boss who employed you at Citi FM.”
That was in view of a caveat issued by President Mahama restricting only ministers to fly on business class tickets.
But the NDC regional chairman claimed he was invited by a company that had dealings with the NPA, inferring that the ticket could not have been bought with state funds.
According to him, the company, called Authentic, which is doing business with NPA, invited him and another board member, put them in a business class flight as well as a 4-Star Western Galleria Hotel in Dallas for one week, all at its expense, in a treat suspected to be a conflict of interest situation.
When pushed why he defied the order not to travel on business class, Allotey asked if the reporter wanted him to be in a trotro to Dallas, telling him to wait until he (Sky) got his trotro bus before he would travel on it to Dallas.
Social Media Gossips
Rumours went viral Sunday morning that Allotey, who left Ghana Saturday night for the UK en route to the United States for an event, had been busted by British officials on suspicion of carrying a large amount of money speculated to be in the region of £500,000.
Even though nothing was heard from him, the Central Regional Communications Officer of the NDC, Kwesi Dawood, and one Nurideen Kobina Essah, who claimed to be a personal assistant of Allotey, put out a statement denying the speculation of his boss’ arrest and subsequent detention relative to any money laundering or narcotic drugs.
That position was also confirmed by the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin, who denied that his government had made any such arrest, let alone the detention of Allotey Jacobs.
Allotey’s Denial . Yesterday, Allotey himself broke the ice by granting interviews on a number of radio stations from Dallas denying the allegation.
He could not fathom where those claims were coming from since it was a complete fabrication.
Speaking on Kasapa FM, Allotey wondered, “How can one manufacture such baseless allegation, and he goes to social media and writes that I’ve been arrested?”
According to him, he travelled with his colleague member on the board of the NPA, one Mrs Agbenyeto.
He therefore could not fathom where the claim of being caught attempting to sneak a whopping £500,000 to another country came from, asking rhetorically, “How can I even take this amount being alleged out of Ghana?”
Instead, he said he had only $1,500 on him when he was travelling and that if he had that much money he would have built a skyscraper in Ghana and not have bothered carrying it abroad for any reason.
Threats
He threatened to deal with those behind the spreading of the information, pointing accusing fingers at Hopeson Adorye, a member of the opposition New Patriotic Party’s (NPP’s) communications team, who he claimed first put it on social media.
“I will never allow this rumour to wash away like that because he [referring to Hopeson] cannot destroy my hard won reputation with a figment of his own imagination,” he indicated.
Even though Adorye claims he had the information from a friend who was on board the same British Airline Flight 078, he has denied starting the rumour about the man’s arrest and subsequent detention.
In an interview on the same network, he said, “Of course I didn’t start this rumour on social media, but a friend who was also travelling to UK on the same flight and was at the business class with Allotey said at Heathrow some four security officials, including three men and a lady, walked to Allotey and asked him how much money he was having in his possession.”
UK Gov’t Denial
The British government has, however, denied the alleged arrest of the NDC man on either money laundering or narcotics charges.
Yesterday, the British High Commission issued a statement saying, “both claims are simply untrue” and that “there was no such arrest,” insisting that “Mr Jacobs was not detained, nor was he questioned.”
The statement therefore noted, “There was absolutely no evidence of money laundering or drugs.
“After exhaustive multiple enquiries, we state unequivocally that the UK law enforcement authorities with jurisdiction at Heathrow Airport all confirm that they did not board the aeroplane to speak to Mr Jacobs, nor did they do so subsequently within the airport, and they certainly did not escort Mr Jacobs off the flight concerned. Our law enforcement authorities keep meticulous records, including… ‘escorting off’ aeroplanes. There is no such record in the case of Mr Jacobs, as there was no such event. We understand that Mr Jacobs caught his connecting flight to the US on time and without incident,” the Mission averred.
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