BNI interrogates Sylvester Mensah:Over false claims by 10 medical facilities
A former Chief Executive of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr Sylvester Mensah, has been granted bail after interrogation at the headquarters of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).
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According to sources, the former NHIA boss presented himself to the BNI on January 1, 2016, after seven armed BNI operatives went to his residence at Tse Addo, near the Trade Fair in Accra, the previous night (December 31, 2015).
Mr Mensah is said to have spent well over eight hours in assisting the security operatives in gathering information on suspected issues of false claims by some 10 medical facilities.
According to the source, Mr Mensah was not home when the BNI officials went to his residence.
It is not clear if his interrogation has anything to do with a fraudulent case being investigated by the BNI, in which five officials of the NHIA have been arrested.
Seventeen people have also been cautioned and granted bail by the BNI.
The investigations began six months ago at the instance of President John Mahama.
According to the BNI, some medical facilities have been falsifying documents and submitting bloated claims to the NHIA. In some cases, officials of such medical facilities colluded with officials of the NHIA to defraud the authority.
A source said the directors of the authority had been invited for routine interactions with officials of the BNI and some conceded that even though there had been such interactions between officials of the two institutions in the past, “this interaction appears to be comprehensive”.
The source said the key issues being discussed included the accreditation process, the provider tariffs and how claims were vetted and processed.