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The serious Fraud Office (SFO) in Kumasi has launched investigations into bizarre contracts entered into by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and individual private developers. The investigations would border on award of contracts and issue of leases to developers by the KMA, which resolved at a General Assembly meeting to review and regularize �dubious� contracts and agreements by previous administrations. The regularization and review of contracts are premised on the fact that most of the contracts and agreements, including Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) had not followed due process and that about 90%of KMA contracts and agreements are in breach of the procedures, and stand the chance of being abrogated. The position of the Assembly is on the strength of the Local Government Act 462 of 1993 and sections of the Standing Orders of the Metropolitan/Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs). Section 4 (i), Act 462, which dwells on the incorporation of the Assembly states that �Each District Assembly shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, and may be sued in its own name�. Section 64 of the Standing orders provides that �For the purpose of sealing contracts, bye-laws, agreements and other formal documents, the Common Seal, shall be cast in brass metal in round or oval shape,� while Section 66, sub-section 2, points to the role of the Presiding member and the Secretary of the Assembly, thus �The Presiding Member and the Secretary of the Assembly shall by their signatures, authenticate the affixing of the Common Seal�. The Chronicle is informed that the Assembly is contemplating revoking a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) single handedly entered into by the former Chief executive, Mr. Maxwell Kofi Jumah and All State Construction, in which a public land was leased to one Nana Asante for 40 years because it (MOU) was administered outside the Assembly and the legal framework. The Chronicle has, however, gathered that efforts by the state investigators have hit the rock, as management of the KMA is not cooperating with the SFO, after it called for the probe. The KMA has refused to furnish the SFO with the necessary documents to enable the investigators to proceed with the probe. Mr. William Nutakpor, Head of the SFO confirmed that his outfit had initiated enquiries into a complaint by the KMA. Unfortunately, he said, the management of KMA, as complainant, is not co-operating with the investigators. Nana Asante confided in The Chronicle that he has valid documents for holding onto the land in dispute, and that he had already been quizzed by the SFO to that effect. He could, however, not produce a copy of the said documents because they were in the custody of a secretary who had traveled outside the country. Nana Asante said while waiting for the return of his secretary he had applied to the KMA for a copy of the necessary documents to defend his claims. But it looks like the SFO would not make any headway in their mission, because not only has the KMA been unable to furnish Nana Asante with a copy of the require documents, management had also refused to comply with the orders of the SFO to provide them with the necessary details for the investigations.