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Former Energy Minister Dr Oteng Adjei who has been severely criticised for appropriating one of the luxury vehicles meant for inspection of a rural electrification project says he returned the vehicle Tuesday, February 24, after the media vilification.

He said he didn't steal the car and that the Lexus LX 570 which he was using until he returned it to the Energy Ministry this morning was an appropriate reward for his hard work.

Contrary to initial claims by the energy ministry that the 38 luxury vehicles were negotiated for and bought by officials under the erstwhile New Patriotic Party government, Dr Oteng Adjei confessed that the vehicles were bought by the NDC regime with money from a contingency fund under a loan agreement with the US Exim Bank.

An Auditor General's report released last week revealed that the Energy Ministry had between 2010 and 2012 expended close to $2 million on 38 luxury vehicles and other office equipment which were to be used to monitor and inspect a rural electrification project.

The AG's revelation caused a huge furore with sections of the public questioning why luxury vehicles would be bought for inspection of a rural electrification project.

The AG, again wondered in his report how the amount for the luxury cars was taken from the Exim Bank loan when no such budget had been made in the loan agreement.

But the Energy Ministry mounted a strong defence for the purchase and use of the vehicles.

The Ministry said in a statement that the vehicles were part of the $350 million Exim bank loan for rural electrification whose negotiation began in 2007 and approved by the Parliament in 2008 under the Kufuor administration.

The Ministry also claimed that there was a cabinet approval for the purchase of the vehicles in 2007 or 2008, a claim NPP officials have vehemently denied.

In the heat of the controversy it became apparent that Dr Oteng who was then the Energy Minister until he was moved to the Environment Science and Technology Ministry in 2013 had appropriated one of the luxury vehicles for his personal use.

Even in a new ministry which had no mandate to monitor rural electrification project, Dr Oteng Adjei still held on to his luxury vehicle- the Lexus LX 570.