CID quizzes three former ministers of state over Ameri deal
Three former ministers and three businessmen were on Monday invited by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service for questioning in connection with the AMERI power deal.
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They are a former Minister of Power, Dr Kwabena Donkor, his deputy, Mr John Jinapor, and a former Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Dominic Ayine.
The names of the three businessmen who were invited alongside the ministers are yet to be released by the police.
Last week, the police, acting on the orders of a court, conducted searches in the homes of Dr Donkor, Mr Jinapor and Dr Ayine in their efforts to find evidence or documents on the power deal.
Not under arrest
According to the Deputy Director General of the CID, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACOP) Mrs Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, none of the three former government appointees was under arrest.
She said invitation letters were written by the CID to the six, to which they all acknowledged receipt and agreed to honour the invitation.
The police gave each of the six a specific time to present himself to the CID for interrogation and all of them were present at the CID yesterday.
Mrs Addo-Danquah reiterated the fact that the search of the residences of the former ministers and the invitations were all part of the routine procedure of investigations and disabused the minds of the public of the perception that the police were harassing the former ministers.
Statement forms
She said Dr Donkor was the first to arrive at the CID Headquarters yesterday, followed by Mr Jinapor, Dr Ayine and then the three businessmen, adding that each person spent less than 30 minutes with investigators because after telling the police about what he knew about the deal, each was given a statement form to take home and write his statement and return same later.
Mrs Addo-Danquah asserted that the police explained to each of the six that the exercise was only an investigation and that nobody was being accused of anything.
She said all six were told that they would only be arrested if the police found any evidence implicating any of them in the AMERI deal.
“On the other hand, if nothing was found, their names would be cleared and the police would close the docket on the case,” she added.
She gave an assurance that the police would do thorough and professional work in order to settle the issue once and for all.
Controversial deal
The 300MW Ameri emergency power contract was secured in 2015 by the Mahama administration to fix severe power challenges at the time after it received parliamentary approval.
However, following a publication by a Norwegian newspaper about the deal, it was condemned for its $510 million price tag, as analysts said Ghana could have secured the same deal for $150 million less.
Specifics about the ongoing probe into the deal remain a subject of speculation, as security officials remain tight-lipped on the matter.
However, there are strong suggestions that the contract was signed amid heavy underhand dealings.
Parliament
The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, last Friday gave an assurance that he would invite security chiefs to discuss matters relating to the dawn searches of the residences of the ministers, who are also MPs.
The Speaker’s assurance came on the back of an appeal by Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, the Minority Chief Whip, to the Speaker to restrain security personnel from raids of homes of some MPs on the Minority side suspected to be linked to the alleged malfeasance in the AMERI power deal.