The Managing Director of Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMT), Bennet Aboagye, has rejected corruption and fraud allegations leveled against him by some staff of the company.
According to him, the staff had tried to blackmail him, but when they realized that the plan had failed; they decided to tarnish his image with corruption claims.
Some workers of MMT have petitioned the Special Prosecutor to investigate Mr. Aboagye over what they describe as “filthy” deals being transacted in the company.
According to the petition, signed by one Mr. Lawal, who is said to be the Company’s Head of Security, the Managing Director, is in collusion with some top officials of the Company to secretly purchase 300 new buses and electrical products, and sell off MMT scrap buses.
[contextly_sidebar id=”ordJeAfYFDaWid6gyXf8vhpOVrHecxZS”]The petition sighted by Citi News also accused Mr. Aboagye and his personal assistant, Mr. Yiadom Kessie of openly requesting “for bribes or commission before awarding contracts to suppliers or signing cheques to pay suppliers for services they rendered.”
The petitioners say they subsequently “planted a third ear at some strategic locations with the hope of having firsthand information about what the MD, his personal assistant and some key players in this scandal do, say and planned to do, and the revelations uncovered are mind-boggling.”
“The third ear revealed among others, malpractices involving the intended purchase of 300 buses from China…the purchase of electrical products, sale of MMT scrap buses among others,” the workers added in the petition.
They also claimed that Mr. Aboagye however tried to bribe them to the tune of about GHc60,000 in order to have the recordings and transcripts destroyed.
I’m being blackmailed
But in a swift response however, the Managing Director of MMT, Bennet Aboagye, dismissed the allegations.
He insisted that Mr. Lawal had tried extorting about GHc1 million from him with the pretence of being a negotiator between him [Aboagye] and the alleged blackmailers.
Mr. Aboagye said he quickly informed his lawyer, Dr. Amoako Tuffour, who advised him to inform the Bureau of National Investigations [BNI].
He said after several meetings, Mr. Lawal told them that the supposed blackmailers had agreed to accept GHc40,000, and hand over all the recordings and the “supposed third ear.”
“All this while, Lawal was trying to portray that he was only playing an intermediary role and that he was innocent and rather intervening on our behalf. According to him, it was a group led by one Bawa which was behind this deal. It is important to note that, the said Bawa once called Mr. Kessie on phone, and threatened him to pay the money, else, he would regret the consequences of failure to comply,” Mr. Aboagye said in a memo sighted by Citi News.
He explained that they gave Lawal GHc20,000 and urged him to “bring the recording before final payment would be made” but the blackmailers refused.
“Dr. Amoako Tuffour called me that the security coordinator was now prepared to give us the recordings and to take his balance. For that purpose we should meet in his office at East Legon at 9:00am.”
He wrote in the memo that, while at Dr. Tuffour’s office, “ Lawal only presented a pendrive to Mr. Yiadom Kessie.”
“Initially, Dr. Amoako Tuffour rejected the pendrive and demanded to have the entire recording device. Lawal then promised that, having received the full amount in hand now, he would present it to his ‘people’ and return by 5:00pm with the full recording device. After offering the final balance of GHc20,000 to Lawal, Dr. Amoako Tuffour himself took pictures of the money being handed over to Mr. Lawal as evidence. Since then, he never showed up.”
Mr. Aboagye however insisted that “this is a clear case of extortion and blackmail by an employee.”
“Interestingly, Lawal who acted as an intermediary initially is now the petitioner in this case. It is very clear from the threatening letter and the note he wrote on the copy of the Criminal Check Report that Lawal was incensed by MD’s decision to report the matter to the police, and true to his word, he has come up with damaging fabrications to dent my image,” he added.
Special Prosecutor receives petition
Meanwhile, Citi News can confirm that the Special Prosecutor has received the petition.
Our Sources say the Special Prosecutor has responded to it, saying the Office will investigate the allegations once it starts work.
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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin
