<<Print>>

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, cannot fathom why former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Betty Mould-Iddrisu is still walking about freely in spite of being indicted by the recent report of the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) of complicity in the payment of over GH�51.2million to self-acclaimed financier of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alfred Agbesi Woyome. The Minority Leader said nobody involved in the criminal act should be spared, wondering why Betty was still walking freely despite the fact that people who were not connected to the payment had been arrested and their statements taken. The former Attorney General is said to be involved in the Woyome scandal as she threw all professional caution to the wind and allegedly glossed over evidential documents to order the payments to Woyome. Mrs Mould-Iddrisu virtually arm-twisted the Finance Minister to pay the money to Woyome even when there was overwhelming evidence that the State had no contract with the NDC self-styled financier. It is based on this and other reasons that Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said anybody involved in the criminality should not be spared, asking the police to arrest them. Speaking in an interview with Daily Guide yesterday, the Minority Leader said, �When he (President Mills) instructed EOCO to go into the matter; by the report of EOCO, they are saying that it was Betty Mould-Iddrisu who ordered payment. Not only did she order but she did even supervise payment to Woyome.� He could not comprehend why till date the police or the President had not ordered the arrest of Mrs Mould-Iddrisu who did not only authorise but also supervised the payment of such lump sum to a man who has admitted to not having a contract with the State. In answering a question from journalists about the scandal during his recent encounter with the media at the Osu Castle, President Mills said he was not �criminally-minded and irresponsible� to make such a gargantuan payment to Woyome. �Now that it has emerged that she was the one who ordered payment, will she then fit the bill of the President as irresponsible or criminally-minded and if that is so why is she walking on the streets and sleeping in her house on her bed with her husband?� Kyei Mensah-Bonsu asked. Reacting to the arrest of Osei Bonsu Amoah, MP for Aburi/Nsawam, at a press conference on Tuesday, the Minority group in Parliament said, �We the NPP Members of Parliament see no credible reason for this arrest. It is a baseless and fruitless enterprise the police are embarking on.� That, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu noted, was because �it is manifestly and patently an exercise in political equalisation,� cautioning that �if these attempts are a contrivance to blur the picture and let the perpetrators of this gargantuan fraud pass through the net of justice, we will assure all and sundry that if truth is suppressed today, it will emerge tomorrow.� So far, the police have arrested five people including Mr Woyome and O.B Amoah in relation to the case whilst former Minister of Education and Sports, Yaw Osafo-Maafo was invited to assist in investigations on Tuesday. Mr Osafo-Maafo has admitted that he authorised O.B. Amoah to write a letter to Waterville, authorising it to move to sight before the contract with the company was abrogated. In the first instance, indications are that it was President Mills who ordered the arrest and subsequent prosecution of Mr Woyome. In the case of O.B. Amoah, who was arrested last Sunday evening, though the name of the President was not used, it appears it was carried out on the instructions of the usual �order from above� since the Attorney-General is reported to have told the police he did not have an interest in the case. A charge sheet prepared by the police was shredded by the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, who said that the charges could not stand in any court of law. This compelled the police to drop the initial charges of corruption and causing financial loss to the State brought against Mr Amoah. Mrs Mould-Iddrisu had prompted the police by voluntarily submitting a letter to them, saying she was ready for any interrogation.