Questions of timing and motivate are beginning to emerge about why a Ghanaian journalist, will pay over US$80, 000 to film a Minister of State in April 2018, at a hotel in the outskirts of Dubai and get him sacked four years later from the Akufo-Addo government.
The Herald, has been digging around the latest undercover investigation by Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his Tiger Eye PI team, which has led to the dismissal of Charles Adu Boahen, and reports are emerging that the film is an act of a hatchet job for a New Patriotic Party (NPP), Member of Parliament (MP) whose contract faced termination by the Finance Ministry.
At the meeting in Dubai, The Herald has been informed US$80, 000 exchanged hands between the undercover reporters of Anas who had posed as Arabian businessmen on one hand and the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen and a private legal practitioner, whose name the paper learnt the Tiger Eye PI team, is withholding.
The Herald’s findings are that, whilst Mr Adu Boahen, was given US$40,000 for “shopping”, the private legal practitioner, who is a relative of the President Nana Akufo-Addo, also got paid US$40,000, as his legal fee.
The lawyer, The Herald, learnt had insisted on getting paid legal fees to attend the meeting which was summoned by the supposed Arab businessmen under the cloak of opening a private bank in Ghana. He had approached the trip purely from a business perspective. His portions of the video, have been omitted in the footage made public.
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There are strong suspicions in the Akufo-Addo government that the NPP MP, dished out huge sums for the filming. Some members of the Akufo-Addo family, openly blared out the name of the legislator to The Herald hours after the dismissal of Mr Adu Boahen.
The National Security apparatus is also mentioned as fingering the NPP MP as the financier of the project.
The Herald, has also been informed that Kennedy Agyapong, obtained an edited version of the actual video and likely to show it anytime soon. He is said to have bought it from one of Anas’ men, who had also made it public to Charles Adu Boahen, two years ago.
Charles Adu Boahen, was pulled to Dubai on his way to Singapore in April 2018.
Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s name came up when mention was made of an Islamic Bank.
The Herald’s estimations are that the airfares, hotel accommodations, the number of people deplored and money spent on the filming, run into several hundreds of thousands of United States Dollars.
The Herald, is informed that the undercover Arab businessmen, had approached Charles Adu Boahen four years ago, through an official of the Finance Ministry by name, Solomon Amponsah, in the name of setting up a bank here in Ghana.
It has since emerged that, Solomon Amponsah, was approached by Ahmed Hussein-Suale, who was murdered on Wednesday, January 16, 2019 by unidentified men on motorbikes who shot him three times, twice in the chest and once in his neck in his vehicle.
Ahmed Hussein-Suale, was a Ghanaian undercover investigative journalist and an associate of fellow investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
It is believed that the setting and the personalities, hotel rooms in the Adu Boahen video, are the same as ex-President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwasi Nyantakyi. It also had Arabian Business people wanting to do business here in Ghana and needed a conduit to the Presidency and influential personalities in the Akufo-Addo government.
Meanwhile, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, the Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, has been explaining what caused the delay in releasing the video four years after it was filmed.
On a Facebook post by one Kwadwo Yeboah-Gyan, as to why his protégé, Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his team used four years to make the investigation public.
He said, what the author of the Facebook post should have done is to “find out what happened within the 4-year period which may have delayed things! Did somebody steal some of the records and sold them to somebody? Did the lead investigator die an unnatural death? And how did these things impact the capacity of the original investigators?”
Baako said, aside from all those challenges, the investigative files were stolen and sold to somebody who went out boasting about having the files of Anas and his team.
Little did the buyer know that the original owners had a backup file which they later retrieved and used to complete the ‘Galamsey Economy’ work.
“Somebody ‘stole and sold’ it to somebody; thinking the evidence had been deleted forever! The ‘buyer’ went out boasting about his possession for years for whatever reason nobody could tell! Apparently, the real ‘owners/author’ subsequently discovered an extra copy! Today’s story begins from there, pay attention,” Abdul Malik Kweku Baako stressed.
Anas in a post on his Facebook timeline hours before the showing of the ‘Galamsey Economy’ film noted that the minister made some shocking revelations to his team in a hotel in UAE, when they posed as possible investors to Ghana.
He said, Adu Boahen alleged the vice president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, will require about USD200,000 as an appearance fee from an investor to get his backing and influence in establishing a business in Ghana.
He said, when his Tiger Eye PI team met with the Minister of State in charge of Finance in UAE, he spoke about Bawumia’s financial demands before agreeing to assist any investor.
“You mean, like appearance fees and stuff? I mean he, himself (the Vice President), if you give him some (USD) 200,000 or something as a token, as thank you, appreciation, that’s fine. He’s not really, he’s not really (like) that. All he needs is to worry about his campaign money in 2020,” Charles Adu Boahen is quoted to have said.
But, Dr Bawumia in a statement on Monday, November 14, denied the accusations and called for an investigation into the allegations.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor, led by Anas’s lawyer, Kissi Agyabeng, has commenced investigations into corruption allegations against the former Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Charles Adu Boahen.
This follows President Akufo-Addo’s referral of the issue to the Office on Monday, November 14.
The OSP in a press release issued on Tuesday said all other persons implicated in the matter will be investigated.
“The Office of the Special Prosecutor has promptly commenced investigations into the actions of Mr Charles Adu Boahen and any other persons implicated in the investigative exposé “Galamsey Economy,” the OSP said.
On Monday, President Akufo-Addo, terminated the appointment of Mr Charles Adu Boahen with immediate effect.
The Director of Communications at the Jubilee House, Eugene Arhin, in a press release said President Akufo-Addo took the decision after being made aware of the allegations levelled against the Minister in the exposé dubbed, Galamsey Economy, by TigerEye PI.
“The President spoke to Mr Adu Boahen, after which he took the decision to terminate his appointment. The President subsequently also referred the matter to the Special Prosecutor for further investigation,” parts of the statement read.
