CHRAJ bans former PPA boss 10yrs; ordered to refund over GH¢5m

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has slapped former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) Adjenim Boateng Adjei with further sanctions.

He has been disqualified from holding public office for the next 10 years while he is to refund to the state GH¢5,697,530 within six months.

This followed a petition filed by anti-graft firm Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) after an investigative documentary by Manasseh Azure Awuni exposed how the former PPA CEO established a company to which contracts were diverted.

The company, Talent Discovery Limited (TDL), incorporated in June 2017, won a number of government contracts through restrictive tendering with monies accrued sitting in the personal bank account of Mr Boateng Adjei.

In its petition on October 4, 2019, GII urged CHRAJ to investigate officials of TDL, especially Thomas Amoah as well as those public officers of procurement entities for their involvement in corruption in the award of contracts to TDL and the “sale” of contracts.

In the CHRAJ findings, Mr Boateng Adjei was said to have put himself in a conflict of interest position, abused his office on two occasions and failed to declare his assets as required by Chapter 24 of the 1992 Constitution.

Therefore, he is not to take any public office for the next 10 years and ordered to declare his assets within three months in accordance with Article 28(1)(c) of the Constitution.

Out of the over GH¢5 million is to refund, he is reported to have made available GH¢86,000.