Tamale High Court has issued a directive for all four accused individuals implicated in the Northern Development Authority (NDA) corruption case by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to commence their defense.
The accused include Sumaila Abdul-Rahman, the former CEO of the NDA; Stephen Yir-eru Engmen and Patrick Seidu, both former Deputy Chief Executives of the NDA; and Andrew Kuundaari, the CEO of A&QS Consortium Limited.
The Special Prosecutor initiated investigations in June 2022 into alleged corruption and related offenses at the NDA concerning a contract awarded to A&QS Consortium.
This contract was for consultancy services under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme.
They are facing 11 charges related to corruption and violations of procurement regulations in the awarding and implementation of contracts for the NDA.
The presiding judge ruled that the prosecution has established a prima facie case against the accused individuals on all 11 counts, necessitating them to present their defense.
The OSP pressed charges against the four following an investigation spurred by complaints filed by Mr. Martin Luther Kpebu, a private legal practitioner, who requested scrutiny into the operations of NDA and the conduct of its Chief Executive and Board Chairman.
The investigation uncovered violations of procurement laws and involvement in corrupt practices by the accused.
As per the investigative findings, Abdul-Rahman, Engmen, Seidu, and Kuundaari allegedly manipulated the procurement process to unfairly favor A&QS in contracts for consultants under the Infrastructure for Poverty (IPEP) project.
This included inflating the approved contract sum from GH₵5,720,000.00 to GH₵10,400,000.00 without proper authorization.
Furthermore, Kuundaari’s submission of invoices for the inflated contract sum was purportedly fraudulent.
