North Tongu Member of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has disclosed that the total sum involved in the ambulance spare parts scandal is US$108million.
According to Ablakwa, the procurement of the ambulances was done by the same characters behind the bid for the purchase of its spare parts.
Providing details from the report of the Auditor-General, Mr. Ablakwa indicated that: “If you put all the sums involved together, we are talking about a whooping US$108million transaction.”
Speaking on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, August 03, 2024, the legislator held that evidence he has uncovered from his research indicate that the President’s daughters and their business partner were the same people that procured the ambulances for the state with an inflated cost of US$29million.
Per the payment vouchers available to him, the company involved, Service Ghana Auto Group Ltd, has been paid a total of a 115 million Ghana Cedis between 2020 and 2023, the sum of which puts the total transaction involving the alleged scandal becomes a US$108million.
“Remember that my Parliamentary oversight responsibility has led us to an incontrovertible, irrefutable, unimpeachable, impeccable conclusion that it’s the same characters who procured the ambulances. So you need to start from US$54.3million quoted by the Auditor-General, that we spent procuring the ambulance was inflated by over US$29million.
“Then you need to also add the US$34.9m for the spare parts which Ken Ofori-Atta instructed on the 9th of February, few days before he left office. Then when you also go through this payment vouchers, you realise that between 2020 and 2023, this same Service Ghana Auto Group Ltd. has been paid GHC115million so if you put all of these figures together, we are talking about a US$108m scandal,” he told Alfred Ocansey Saturday.
Background
The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, recently accused former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and former Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu of conspiring with Service Ghana Auto Group Limited to swindle the state in the botched deal.
Mr. Ablakwa alleged that Ofori-Atta approved the deal just five days before leaving office, raising suspicions of impropriety and questioning the company’s ability to deliver, given its recent incorporation.
Meanwhile, Health Minister, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, has said that the Bank of Ghana has not made any payment in relation to the $34 million ambulance spare parts deal with Service Ghana Auto Group Limited.
Appearing before the Government Assurances Committee of Parliament on Thursday, August 01, 2024, Dr. Okoe Boye refuted claims that Service Ghana Auto Group Limited has already been paid $34 million.
“I spoke to one of the Deputy Governors who I had a working relationship with when I was at Health Insurance and the Deputy Governor made me aware that not even a dollar has been given to the provider.
“She used some terms that it is actually a letter of credit and that it is when the provider has actually performed, and supplied parts to certain tunes that they are empowered to pay for the work done. And so the governor made me understand that they have it with them, but they have not paid,” he indicated.
