Former Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Ernest Thompson, and three others have been charged on 29 counts of “willfully causing financial loss to the state, conspiracy to commit crime and breach of the procurement lawâ€.
The other three include the former Head of IT Department at SSNIT, Caleb Kwaku Afaglo; former OBS Project Manager; John Hagan Mensah and Juliet Hasana Kramah of IT Company, Perfect Business System.
The four appeared before a High Court in Accra on Tuesday July 24, 2018, over the $140 million Operating Business Suite (OBS) contract during the tenure of Mr. Thompson.
The four persons allegedly contributed to the state losing millions of dollars over the SSNIT OBS software and they were charged for causing financial loss to the state.
In August 2017, about 15 people appeared before the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) as witnesses in the matter.
SSNIT also contracted PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct an audit of the contract.
Amidst the controversy, it emerged that, Caleb Afaglo, who was appointed in 2015, did not hold the right qualifications.
He was interdicted by the management of SSNIT over suspicions that his Bachelors’, Masters’ and Doctorate degrees were fake.
EOCO conducted raids in his house, seized his passport and froze his bank account to commence investigations into his qualifications.
EOCO also reportedly interrogated members of Mr. Afaglo’s household and confiscated some documents belonging to him.
The Management of SSNIT subsequently said it was entirely convinced that the degrees were fake and had therefore taken the decision to sack Mr. Afaglo.
Mr. Afaglo’s CV indicates that he acquired his BSC and MBA from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a PhD from the Kennedy Western University, which was an affiliate of the University of Cincinnati until it was closed down in 2011.
A number of other revelations have been made by the current management of SSNIT including the fact that the former Director-Generals of the body, including Ernest Thompson, traveled on first-class tickets on foreign trips.
But the current Director-General, Dr. Ofori-Tenkorang said he cancelled such benefits and opted for business class when he assumed office.
He also revealed that about ten staff of SSNIT have been dismissed in the last few months for possessing fake certificates.
The case has been adjourned to October 17, 2018.
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