By Edmund Mingle
The National Service Scheme NSS has interdicted the Amansie Central District NSS Coordinator, Zakaria Ibrahim, for allegedly involving himself in the payment of service allowances to ghost names.
About GH¢2million is said to have been paid to non-existence national service personnel in the district over a period.
The interdiction follows a investigations by the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) into the alleged diversion of national service funds into private accounts and the payment of national service allowance to ghost names at a number of districts.
According to the investigations, some of the district coordinators of the NSS had connived with officials of rural banks to divert the money into private accounts.
Apart from Amansie Central, Obuasi and Bekwei, all in the Ashanti region, are being probed. Some officials at the Jacobu, Obuasi and Bekwei branches of a rural bank (name withheld), are also being investigated for alleged connivance with the scheme’s coordinators.
Alhaji Imoro Alhassan, Executive Director of the NSS, confirmed the interdiction to the Ghanaian Times at the weekend, but declined to comment further, saying his outfit was awaiting the report from its investigation team.
But a source, close to the BNI told the Ghanaian Times that bank statements covering the payment of the moneys into the private accounts had been secured, while the alleged perpetrators and bank officials were being questioned.
The source said the modus oparandi was that the affected coordinators had opened accounts with rural banks in the districts where they lodged the bulk of the money from the Bank of Ghana, into an account for the payment of allowances to both actual service persons and existent ones.
After issuing cheques to the actual service personnel, the remainder of the money, which was uncollected because of the addition of ghost names, was transferred by the bank into a private current account, which was cleared by the Coordinators, the source revealed.
The alleged fraudulent practice, according to the source, had been going on since 2009, and the
investigation was prompted by a petition to the office of the President by a whistle blower.
According to the source, the whistle blower’s petition indicated that at Amensie Central, for instance, service personnel were previously made to open bank accounts with the rural bank, into which their allowances were paid, but that was recently abolished to allow the money to be paid into an account after which it was disbursed through the issuance of cheques.
The source alleged that move than GH¢2 million was reportedly paid to ghost names as Jacobu branch of the rural bank, while a total of more than GH¢4million had been paid to non-existence service personnel at Obuasi and Bekwai branches of the bank.
Dr. Clement Apaak, Spokesman for the Special Operations Unit at the Office of the President, also confirmed the case to The Ghanaian Times, and indicated that it was one of the alleged corruption cases referred by the President to the investigative agencies for action.
The National Service Scheme NSS has interdicted the Amansie Central District NSS Coordinator, Zakaria Ibrahim, for allegedly involving himself in the payment of service allowances to ghost names.
About GH¢2million is said to have been paid to non-existence national service personnel in the district over a period.
The interdiction follows a investigations by the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) into the alleged diversion of national service funds into private accounts and the payment of national service allowance to ghost names at a number of districts.
According to the investigations, some of the district coordinators of the NSS had connived with officials of rural banks to divert the money into private accounts.
Apart from Amansie Central, Obuasi and Bekwei, all in the Ashanti region, are being probed. Some officials at the Jacobu, Obuasi and Bekwei branches of a rural bank (name withheld), are also being investigated for alleged connivance with the scheme’s coordinators.
Alhaji Imoro Alhassan, Executive Director of the NSS, confirmed the interdiction to the Ghanaian Times at the weekend, but declined to comment further, saying his outfit was awaiting the report from its investigation team.
But a source, close to the BNI told the Ghanaian Times that bank statements covering the payment of the moneys into the private accounts had been secured, while the alleged perpetrators and bank officials were being questioned.
The source said the modus oparandi was that the affected coordinators had opened accounts with rural banks in the districts where they lodged the bulk of the money from the Bank of Ghana, into an account for the payment of allowances to both actual service persons and existent ones.
After issuing cheques to the actual service personnel, the remainder of the money, which was uncollected because of the addition of ghost names, was transferred by the bank into a private current account, which was cleared by the Coordinators, the source revealed.
The alleged fraudulent practice, according to the source, had been going on since 2009, and the
investigation was prompted by a petition to the office of the President by a whistle blower.
According to the source, the whistle blower’s petition indicated that at Amensie Central, for instance, service personnel were previously made to open bank accounts with the rural bank, into which their allowances were paid, but that was recently abolished to allow the money to be paid into an account after which it was disbursed through the issuance of cheques.
The source alleged that move than GH¢2 million was reportedly paid to ghost names as Jacobu branch of the rural bank, while a total of more than GH¢4million had been paid to non-existence service personnel at Obuasi and Bekwai branches of the bank.
Dr. Clement Apaak, Spokesman for the Special Operations Unit at the Office of the President, also confirmed the case to The Ghanaian Times, and indicated that it was one of the alleged corruption cases referred by the President to the investigative agencies for action.
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