The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has begun prosecution process against the Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Authority (NDA), Mr. Sumaila Abdul-Rahman and his two deputies, Stephen Yir-eru Engmen in Charge of Operations, and Mr. Patrick Seidu, the Deputy Chief Executive (Finance & Administration) for alleged corruption.
Joined in the suit is Andrew Kuundaari who is the Chief Executive Officer of A&QS Consortium Limited, a private consultancy firm.
The four are being hauled before the court for breaches of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663).
A statement dated January 24 and signed by the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, said the four will be arraigned before the High Court (Criminal Division), Tamale on Tuesday, January 31, 2023.
The suspects have been charged with conspiracy to directly or indirectly influence the procurement process to obtain unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract.
“Mr. Sumaila Abdul-Rahman, Mr. Patrick Seidu and Mr. Andrew Kuundaari have been charged with a further count each of directly or indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract, while Mr. Stephen Yir-eru Engmen has been charged with a further two (2) counts of the same offence.”
The charges follow complaint by Mr. Martin Luther Kpebu who alleged that the Public Procurement Authority approved the award of the contract in the sum of five million seven hundred and twenty thousand cedis (GHC5,720,000.00) on 16 January 2020 and that no approval was sought for the inflated figure of ten million four hundred thousand cedis (GHC10,400,000.00).
He further alleged that though the contract has expired, NDA has gone ahead to implement same and paid about three million cedis (GHC3,000,000.00) and that there was an attempt to pay an additional five million cedis (5,000,000.00).
The two Deputy Chief Executive Officers of the Northern Development Authority, Mr. Patrick Seidu and Mr. Stephen Yir-Eru Engmen, have since been sacked by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.