Seth Mantey, the journalist at the centre of the missing excavator saga, has denied allegations of being involved in the sale of the equipment.
Mantey has been indicted by a report issued by former Minister of Science and Environment, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, which accuses him of using his personal bank account to receive alleged bribes.
At a press conference in Accra on Monday, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) alleged that there is “smoking gun evidence” that implicates Mantey and others, including Ekow Ewusi and John Ofori Atta, a former Central Regional Security Coordinator, in the sale of at least 27 excavators seized from illegal miners.
Mantey denied giving a formal statement to the minister about the issue.
Speaking to Citi News at a press conference, Mantey said that Professor Frimpong-Boateng’s allegations against him are false.
“The issues started in October 2019 when I was invited to Professor Frimpong-Boateng’s office and asked to sign a document that had been written by them. I refused to sign the document. They later asked me to print out my bank statement,” Mantey said.
“I am speaking because there has been an initial press conference by the NDC relating to the issues. The statement that the NDC talked about in their press conference is fake. I have not written any statement nor have I signed that statement. In the purported statement, there are some contacts on the statement which are not mine.”
“I have never said anywhere that I have been an errand boy for some of the individuals mentioned in the statement. Those who wrote the statement have even apologized to me. This is not the statement I wrote after I was invited by the police. I don’t work for Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, so that allegation shouldn’t be taken seriously,” he stated.
