Another Twist To CAN 2008 Bribery Scandal

The alleged bribery scandal involving top government officials with respect to the CAN 2008 stadia construction appears to have taken a different turn with the Editor of the Dispatch Newspaper, Mr Ben Ephson, revealing that the company at the center of the alleged scandal is not China based.

The Daily Dispatch reported last week that twenty million dollars had allegedly been put aside, with some already disbursed, by one of the bid companies to say thank you to top officials in the government.

In an interview with CITI NEWS, Mr Ben Ephson stated that another construction company also bidding to construct the stadia had rather put aside the amount to say thank you to the government officials.

Mr Ephson, who declined to name the officials involved, emphasized that the company estimated the rehabilitation of the five stadia to cost around a hundred and eighty million dollars, out of which twenty million will be set aside to thank the officials, but the contract looks likely to be awarded to a Chinese Company, since their offer for the rehabilitation of the stadia together with the renovation of the tartan tracks and hostel facilities will save the country about a hundred million dollars as against the other offers.

The Dispatch Editor further revealed that one of the companies wrote a letter to the Chinese Company, stating that the award has already been awarded to another company and therefore what they are about to do will infringe on the Procurement law of the country.

Ghana won the rights to host the tournament ahead of Libya last year. Ghana received 9 votes, while Libya received 3 out a total of 12 cast by the Executive Committee of the African football governing body.

One member of CAF Executives , Mr Mawade Wade of Senegal was absent. The CAN 2008 will take place in five different venues, which are Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi, Tamale and Takoradi. Ghana hosted CAN in 1963, 1978 and co-hosted with Nigeria in 2002. Ghana's bid message was "sharing passions!"

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister for Education and Sports, Mr O.B. Amoah, has instructed his lawyers to take further action against the Enquirer Newspaper and its Editor, Mr Raymond Archer, for the article published, which cited him, the Sports Minister Mr Osafo Marfo and Mr Kofi Amoah, as the officials that have been allegedly linked to the bribery scandal.