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Eastern Regional Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Bismarck Tawiah Boateng has threatened to sue a private newspaper, Daily Guide, for defamation.

According to Bismarck Tawiah Boateng, the newspaper would have to meet him in court to indicate the portion of the Professor Kwesi Botchwey committee report that said that “Bismarck Tawiah Boateng has pocketed 1 million Ghana cedis.”

Tuesday’s edition of Daily Guide carried a story which the paper claimed was culled from the 455-page committee report, with the banner headline “PROBE NDC CHAIR”. The story among many other things alleged that the Eastern Regional Chairman of the NDC is keeping some 1 million Cedis meant for campaign during the 2016 general elections in the region.

But Mr. Boateng mentioned on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show that the campaign in the region was managed by the regional campaign coordinators and there was no way such amount would have come to him.

He said the newspaper would have to prove in court that he actually received the said money.

“The whole Daily Guide and the person who wrote the story will explain in court who probably used my name [Tawiah Boateng] to take that Ghc 1 million from the party . . . Daily Guide will come out to tell us in court whether Tawiah Boateng took the money or someone used my name to receive the money,” he charged.

He emphasized on his participation when the team of Kwesi Botchwey Committee came to the Eastern Region to gather information on the cause of the party's failure in the 2016 election and that nowhere was it ever mentioned in the region that he [Tawiah Boateng] pocketed campaign money.

" . . apart from Somanya, I went round with the Committee to gather the report and nowhere was I mentioned that I squandered money which was meant for campaign. None of the executives mentioned money as an issue . . . the money was given to the coordinator and not me. The money was about Ghc285,000 and the coordinator called and gave me the money in the presence of other executives. After the election, we used some of the money to pay for party's office rent and the rest of the money was declared to the executives," he explained.

He however feared that things might get out of hands in the party if the party executives don’t take care with the situation going on; thus, the executive summary which was read to the party executives never mentioned names.

He therefore wondered why some people want to tarnish the name of former Communications Minister, Dr. Omane Boamah and him [Tawiah Boateng] in the party by using Daily Guide as a conduit; quizzing “so the executive summary Daily Guide is talking about, is it different from the one which was shown on a projector to us”?

“I have not seen a copy of the executive summary report. National has a copy and I am waiting for the report," he indicated.

The NDC Eastern Regional Chairman also said, monies made available to the region, was brought by Director of Elections Samuel Ofosu Ampofo but explained that the money was given to the Treasurer of the party in the region.