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Former Prez Rawlings Cited in Bribery
Case
By Kweku Asare, ACCRA
Accra, July 23, Ghanadot - Information gathered by
Ghanadot.com indicates that former President Jerry John
Rawlings has been cited in a bribery case being heard at the
Asker and Baerum High Court in Norway.
The information which started over the weekend as a rumour
gained ground when Mr Paul Victor Obeng, Special Advisor to
Mr Rawlings's government, one of two others cited in the
case, denied knowledge of the bribery scandal. The other
name mentioned is Mrs Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, the former
First Lady.
The case started in October 2005, and involves one Tor Egil
Kjelsaas who had been sent to court by his employers,
SCANCEM of Norway, the founders of GHACEM in Ghana, over an
alleged bribery of some West African Heads of State
involving huge sums of dollars.
GHACEM, the, cement company in Ghana, until 1991 was owned
by Norwegian investors, SCANCEM.
A number of publications have this week published the story,
which Ghanadot sources say have it that since the
1960s, SCANCEM controlled the cement production in Ghana,
Liberia, Togo, Sierra-Leone and beyond, often as a monopoly.
Kjelsaas who has been accused by his employers of theft was
stationed in Africa to represent SCANCEM's interest.
According to an investigative article published by a
Norwegian Magazine – DN Magasinet – in April this year, about
the bribery allegedly perpetuated by Kjelsaas and titled,
“Gray Cement - Black Money”,
proceedings from court reports indicate an alleged bribery at
the highest levels in Ghana, Togo and Nigeria.
According to the report, Kjelsaas was believed to have paid
huge sums of money to some African leaders in order to
sustain SCANCEM's monopoly over supply of cement to the
countries mentioned.
The report mentioned two anonymous bank accounts in Unibank
S.A. Luxemburg and Barclays Bank S.A. in Geneva,
Switzerland.
"These two accounts were earmarked for Ghana and huge sums
of US dollars were deposited by SCANCEM in them. "
It said between 1993 and 1998 a total of US$1,690,000 was
transferred to the Barclays Bank account and a total of
US$2,460,000 was also paid into the Unibank account during
the same period.
The proceedings showed that SCANCEM management believed that
the money deposited in the Barclays Bank account went to
Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, and that of the Unibank went
to Mr P.V. Obeng, then a special advisor to the PNDC regime
headed by J.J. Rawlings.
The Report said Mr Gerhard Heilberg, a SCANCEM official
based in Ghana at the time in testifying said Rawlings and
his wife were among those who received money from SCANCEM.
A testimony by former SCANCEM Finance Chief, G. Jacobsen,
also said bribery in Ghana and Africa for that matter was
done by cash payments.
The report further said a testimony by Tor Nygarrd, a
management staff of SCANCEM who paid out the monies said
they paid politicians, the party which is believed to be the
National Democratic Congress (NDC), and Ghana Port
officials.
He said special code forms were developed in Ghana for those
who received the monies.
He said 14 of such coded forms were used and the date and
amount for each recipient were recorded in Ghanaian cedis as
well as US dollars.
Mr Obeng, however, in an interview with the magazine is
reported to have claimed the monies were paid to him by
SCANCEM for "purely consultancy services".
Kweku Asare, Ghanadot, ACCRA, July 23, 2007
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