The National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Tamale Central, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, has said he cannot back claims that a government official has been arrested in the UK for money laundering.
Over the weekend news was rife that a top government official under the Akufo-Addo government has been picked up by UK officials for laundering about £26 million through a private jet.
“The British Customs have intercepted a large amount of money from a key government official, and are asking for documentation to support that. That money was ferried into the United Kingdom by a plane, a chartered plane…About 26 million pounds Sterling …And they are still investigating. The information is still filtering through. It’s not done yet,” the opposition lawmaker said on Radio Gold on Saturday.
According to him, the alarming rate of money laundering in Ghana accounted for one of the main reasons why the government was unable to list the IPO of the Agyapa deal in the UK.
However, on Monday, October 12, 2020, Mr. Fuseini backtracked on his stance while appearing on Class FM with information minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.
“Let me tell my brother and colleague Kojo Oppong Nkrumah that I’m not a purveyor of fake news and I will not put something on air if I don’t have reasonable belief in that”.
“Last week, a group of people met me and gave me information as to what was happening within this government, chronicled some facts; some of them, I could easily ascertain.”
“The 26 million pounds [story], I could not ascertain but the fact that they had given me instances of matters that clearly are worrisome, I gave what they told me some level of credibility,that was why I spoke to it.
“Now, if Kojo Oppong Nkrumah is saying that that is not true and that has not happened, we can only wait to see.
“Mine was to raise red flag based on a reasonable belief in the briefing I had gotten from these people who came to seek audience with me and put before me, matters which, in their view, were matters that we all ought to be concerned about. And, so, that was why I put it on air that was the primary motivation: to raise the flag and to get Ghanaians talking and asking [questions]”, he said.
On his part, Mr. Nkrumah dismissed reports that an official of the Akufo-Addo government has been arrested with 26 million pounds in the United Kingdom.
He also said it is untrue that the UK authorities have intercepted a haul of cash being moved from Ghana to the UK.
Speaking on Takoradi-based Skyy Power FM on Monday, the minister accused the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of fabricating the story.
“No government official has been arrested in the UK. It is a total fabrication and we are clear in our minds that it is a fabrication by the NDC and it is part of their strategy for these last eight weeks where they be will churning out a lot of fabrication, lies and fake audio tapes. We are clear in our minds that it is the NDC for one or two reasons. The first person to articulate it publicly is the Honorable Inusah Fusieni, an NDC Member of Parliament…
“They are the ones who are championing it and articulating it on their online media platforms including Radio Gold online. And now you can also find that there is a fake audio tape that purports to be an international news broadcast which is being circulated since last night,” he said.
He said the strategy is similar to the one deployed by the NDC weeks before the 2008 general elections.
He called on the media and the general public to ignore such fabrication and be on the lookout for similar fabrications in the future.
“We are calling on first of all the media and the general Ghanaian public to not fall for this fabrications and fake doctored or cooked up tapes that they are going to be churning out in the next eight weeks as we get ready for the elections,” he added.
Source: Daily Mail GH
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