Ghana’s Attorney General has brought formal charges against the former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), Solomon Asamoah, and the fund’s former board chairman, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Ekumfi, over their alleged roles in the failed Accra Sky Train project.

The two have been charged with multiple offences, including wilfully causing financial loss to the state, conspiracy to commit crime, and the intentional dissipation of public funds. The charges were filed at the High Court’s Criminal Division.

Prosecutors claim that in February 2019, the accused authorised a $2 million payment from GIIF to Africa Investor Holdings Limited for preliminary work on the Sky Train project, despite the project never materialising. The payment, according to court documents, was made without proper approval from the GIIF board.

The Accra Sky Train project was launched in 2018 as a public-private partnership aimed at introducing an urban rail system to ease traffic congestion in the capital. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Ministry of Railways Development, Africa Investor Holdings, and GIIF. However, investigations later revealed the payment was made without adequate due diligence and breached internal governance rules.

Attorney General Dr Dominic Ayine described the payment as unauthorised and said it amounted to financial misconduct. “The payment was unauthorized, and the project never materialised. This is a clear case of financial misconduct,” the AG’s statement said.

The case is expected to proceed in the High Court, with several former GIIF board members reportedly set to testify as prosecution witnesses.

This latest prosecution is part of a broader anti-corruption drive by the government, which has also targeted other high-profile scandals, including the alleged ghost names payroll fraud at the National Service Scheme.

Source:TheDotNews