Investigation by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has revealed that former Managing Director (MD) of State Housing Company (SHC) and Ali OLMEZ, MD of Proteus Limited are “culpable of stealing 1.6million dollars.” The report cited by happyghana.com implicated Dr. Ankrah for causing financial loss to the state.
Except of the BNI findings signed by its Director, AMB. Rasheed S. Inusah stated that, “the two [Dr. Ankrah and OLMEZ] were involved in Money laundering, having used SHC joint accounts to receive funds under a false guise.”
The BNI conducted an investigation following a petition from the SHC, alleging that its former MD, Dr. Ankrah without the approval of the SHC board in 2013 and 2014 issued two corporate guarantees to PROTEUS Company limited, a construction firm, to secure a loan of 1million US dollars and 1,600,000 US dollars from EOLIEM Consulting FTZ, a firm purportedly based in Dubai. The loan was for the development of residential apartment at Adenta Dry Pond Area, Accra under the project termed ‘Little London’.
The petition also asserted that the $1.6Million component of the loan though disbursed, was not used for its agreed purpose and that Dr. Ankrah had claimed that, the money was used for a “sister project” when he appeared before an SHC internal investigation committee probing the issue.
Summary of the BNI Findings
The BNI investigation confirmed that “Investigation confirmed that Proteus Company Limited is duly registered under the Companies Act 1963 (Act 179) and was incorporated on 13hJune, 2014. Prior to its incorporation, it operated as a sole proprietorship known as Proteus Enterprise. The principal activity of the Company is Building Construction and Civil Engineering and its address is H/No. BENZIN STREET, EAST LEGON, ACCRA. The Directors and b shareholders are Ali OLMEZ and Diego SIRVENT. Ali OLMEZ, a Turkish national, is the majority shareholder and Managing Director of the Company.
The findings continue to state that, “It was established that, between February and June. 2013, SHC entered into three (3) development agreement with PROTEUS for the construction of residential dwellings at ADENTA Dry Pond area, otherwise known as ‘Little London’. Under this agreement, SHC was to provide land whilst PROTEUS raised the CAPITAL (finance) to develop the project.”
The investigation also revealed that “Dr. ANKRAH unilaterally and without the approval of the Board of SHS on 25th September 2013 and 5h March. 2014 issued two (2) Corporate Guarantees (CG) on behalf of SHC for PROTEUS to raise loans of $1,000.000.00 and $1.600.000.00 respectively from EOLIEM. However, SHC Board minutes from 2012 to 2014 made no mention of approval for the issuance of the guarantees.
It was further established that, “ SHC and PROTEUS signed two (2) Corporate Guarantee Agreements (CGA) before the CG were issued was agreed that, $1,000,000.00 will be used for the development of twenty eight (28) housing units whilst the $1,600,000.00 caters for thirty-two (32) units, all at Adenta Little London. The CGA also stipulated that, the total loan sum of two million, six hundred thousand dollars ($2,600,000.00) was to be lodged into a special mandate account with Dr. ANKRAH and ALI OLMEZ as the signatories. Investigation revealed that, the monies were not paid into the account, whilst, the $1,600,000.00 portion of the load was also not used for the project.
It was established that “SHC contracted PROTEUS in March, 2013 to construct forty (40) unit apartments at the same location (Little London). This was separated from the loan funded projects cited above. Construction agreement, SHC financed the project and hired PROTEUS as a contractor. Document available at SHC confirmed that, the project was fully paid for, hence ANKRAH’s claim that the $1,600,000.00 was used for a “sister project” is not supported by facts available.
Conclusion
However, the investigation concluded that, Dr. Ankrah’s decision not to seek the SHC board’s approval for the loan guarantee was deliberate.
It further concluded that, Dr. Ankrah and PROTEUS deliberately ignored a clause in the corporate guarantee agreement in other to avert audit trail at SHC
Dr. Ankrah’s controversy and sacking
Dr. Ankrah was asked to proceed on leave in January 2015 amid allegations of financial malfeasance, following this, the Ministry also dissolved the company’s board.
Dr. Ankrah subsequently denied all the allegations leveled against him in 2015.
Consequently, a committee chaired by a Director at Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing, was tasked to investigate the MD over embezzlement allegations.
Attached is the BNI report:
By: Joseph Nii Ankrah