EOCO report on Waterville bogus, says Kweku Baako

...... It is a poor attempt at political equalisation

 
The Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, Kweku Baako Jnr, has described the “Waterville section” of the interim report on judgement debts submitted by the Economic and Organised Crimes Office to President Mills last week as “shoddy, deficient and a poor attempt at political equalisation aimed at trying to drag former Ministers of the Kufuor administration”.

 
According to Kweku Baako, the findings of the interim report, with respect to Waterville, have reinforced his long-held cynicism about the ability of EOCO to conduct a truly professional and competent probe devoid of political manipulation

 
In an exclusive interview with the New Statesman over the weekend, Mr Baako stated: “I am surprised EOCO stated in their findings that Woyome's claim was due to manipulation of documents whereas Waterville's claim was not. EOCO has simply allowed itself to be manipulated by government.”

 
Waterville, according to Page 5 and paragraph 4 of the EOCO report, put in a claim for a total amount of €21.57 million for rehabilitation works on the Kumasi, Accra and El-wak stadia. Out of this amount, through documents available to EOCO, an amount of €11.9 million was paid by government with an outstanding difference of €9.63 million left unpaid.

 
The EOCO report further revealed that Waterville thus took advantage of the dispute settlement clause of its contract and went for mediation which resulted in the award of an amount of €25 million to cover the outstanding difference of €9.63 million, plus accumulated interest among others. This amount was paid in 2010.  

 
This finding by EOCO baffles Mr Baako, who insists it represents “a deliberate ploy by EOCO to distort and confuse the issues” as documentary evidence available reveals otherwise.

 
According to Mr Baako, former Chief of Staff Kwadwo Mpiani, in the wake of the public uproar over the Woyome saga, publicly reiterated the position he articulated in his October 24, 2008 letter to Waterville, insisting that Waterville were paid their due before the exit from office of the Kufuor Administration, as per records from the Ministry of Finance.

 
Mr Mpiani's letter which was addressed to Dorino Marca of Waterville, stated: "After a thorough investigation of Waterville's claim, we have confirmed that all payments due to all contractors on the three stadia, Ohene Djan, El-Wak, and Baba Yara have been made by our Ministry of Finance to Micheletti and Consar. These payments included all sums due Waterville".

 
Mr Baako added that Waterville invoking a dispute settlement when the NDC assumed the reins of office, knowing full well that it had been paid all sums owed it as a result of the termination of contract, smacks of a grand collusion and conspiracy to dupe the nation.

 
Explaining the circumstances that led to the termination of the contract between the Government of Ghana and Waterville, Mr Baako revealed that the contract was written and signed by the then Sports Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo on April 26, 2006, asking Waterville to proceed with the rehabilitation/construction works of the three stadia.

However, that contract was abrogated after Waterville had failed to meet the terms of the contract, – clause 17 of the contract which required Waterville obtaining 30% bridge financing, cabinet and parliamentary approval.

 
“A letter to abrogate that contract was written and signed by the then Attorney General, Joe Ghartey, on August 1, 2006, citing among other things, failure by Waterville to raise funding for the project. Six days later, which was the 7th of August, Waterville through its counsel, Kwame Tetteh wrote to government, initially challenging the abrogation of the contract”, Kweku Baako explained.

 
Mr Baako further added that on September 15, 2006, Waterville wrote another letter accepting the terms of the abrogation and rather demanded for payment of the work it had done thus far. Payments for the rehabilitation works they had carried out were subsequently paid by the NPP government, as per Kwadwo Mpiani's letter of October 24, 2008.

 
“Waterville thus had no business invoking an arbitration clause in a contract that did not become effective and also because they were not owed any money by government,” Mr Baako added.

 
Kwaku Baako added that he was therefore taken aback when EOCO stated in its findings that Waterville was owed an outstanding amount of €9 million, adding, “EOCO had allowed itself to be manipulated by the government with the simple reason being a poor attempt at political equalisation.”

 
Investigations carried out by the New Statesman have revealed that the owner of Waterville is Ernesto Taraconi who happens to be a major NDC campaign financier.

 
According to our sources within the NDC, Mr Taraconi gave as much as $4 million to Mills for his last two campaigns.

 
The mediation panel constituted by the NDC to look into the Waterville saga was headed by Ekow Awoonor, who is very close to another NDC financier Frank Buah, brother of Deputy Energy Minister, and an associate of the Ahwois.

 
The respected corporate lawyer who now drives a Rolls Royce is alleged to have been handpicked by the “powers” to serve as mediator in this case.

 
Meanwhile, John Boadu, a deputy Communications Director of the NPP has waded into the judgement debt controversy, indicating that a number of alleged recipients of judgement debts have refuted such claims.

 
“The GH¢20 million paid to the Akwamu Traditional Council has been debunked by the Akwamuhene;   the Juasohene, Nana Owusu Prempeh II, has also refuted allegations that he received judgement debt paid on the 17th of February 2010 of GH¢13.5 million and another GH¢13.5 million on 18th of August,” John Boadu said.

 
John   Boadu added that the EOCO findings had revealed nothing new apart from the fact that the wife of the Chief State Attorney was given GH¢400,000; and also that the President gave the orders at two levels to stop payments and both were ignored.

 
Last week, according to John Boadu, the Al Hajj newspaper pointed out, in an interview with Mr Woyome, that there are people in the Mills administration who disobey the orders of the President and that he, Woyome, would expose them.

 
Woyome, also according to the publication, revealed that there are a lot of people who have been given money through arbitration and not through the payment of judgement debt and he was out to expose all of them.

 
“This why the NPP is asking for a properly constituted body to look into how these payments were made. Over 86 payments have been made so far and there are some that we are not aware of.   The interim report was just about Woyome; there is a whole sea of dubious payments that we have to get to the bottom off,” John Boadu added.