Ato Forson instructed BoG to establish letters of credit contrary to contract's terms –Agyemang Manu tells court

Mr. Agyemang Manu indicated that contrary to the terms of the contract, a letter, which the first accused person authored, Cassiel Ato Forson, was sent to the Bank of Ghana, instructing the latter to establish letters of credit.

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The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu has told the court sitting on the case involving the former Deputy Minister for Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, and others that, contrary to the terms of the contract, he(Ato Forson) instructed the Bank of Ghana to establish letters of credit which led to payments being made to Big Sea.

He noted that the said contract between Big Sea and the Ministry of Health stipulated that the vehicles had to be delivered and prior inspection made before payment was made.

Mr. Agyemang Manu started his evidence in chief on June 28, 2022, led by the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame during which he stated that as Chairman of the Transition Committee on Health after the 2016 elections, he noticed that ambulances were supposedly procured by the Ministry of Health, but had not been delivered.

Additionally, he tendered in evidence, some documents which include a proposal from businessman Richard Jakpa to the Ministry of Health for the supply of 200 ambulances and a letter from Cabinet to Ministers of Health and Finance at the time, seeking approval for a €15.8 million loan facility from Stanbic Bank Ghana. 

However, he could not make it to the last sitting of the court due to court due to ill –health. This was communicated per a letter from the Office of the Attorney General to the court which thus requested an adjournment.

Testifying in court on Thursday, July 21, 2022, Mr. Agyemang Manu indicated that contrary to the terms of the contract, a letter, which the first accused person authored, Cassiel Ato Forson, was sent to the Bank of Ghana, instructing the latter to establish letters of credit.

Further to the above, Mr. Manu said that consequent to the approval of the contract with Big Sea, the GoG was not to execute its side of the bargain(pre-shipment inspection) thus necessitating Big Sea notifying the Attorney General of its intention to sue.

In response, Mr. Agyemang Manu said, the AG wrote to the Ministry of Health and advised it to honor its side of the contract because it could lead to a judgment debt.

However, he said that the Ministry of Health per its response to the Attorney General stated that it was unable to perform the contract due to the unavailability of funds for execution because it had not been informed of any agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the Stanbic Bank, which was supposed to provide the funding per the Parliamentary approval.

Additionally, the Minister of Health noted that after the first accused person’s instruction to the Bank of Ghana, the first 10 vehicles arrived but were defective. The same was communicated to Big Sea and they accepted the condition.

Subsequent to the above, the Minister revealed that Big Sea invited officials of the Ministry to Dubai to its production facility by way of seeing to the fixing of the defects.

However, Big Sea kept postponing the date for the said visit and thus could not happen.

Despite the above, Mr. Agyemang Manu also indicated that Big Sea continued to ship more vehicles into the country.

He also said that the Ministry of Health eventually sent a team of technicians to Dubai to engage Big Sea but the latter failed to fix the defects.

Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, and two others; Dr. Sylvester Anemana and businessman, Richard Jakpa have been charged by the state for causing financial loss, over the importation of 200 ambulances in a contract between the Ministry of Health and a Dubai-based company in 2012.

They have been charged with five counts of willfully causing financial loss to the state, abetment to willfully cause financial loss to the state, contravention of the Public Procurement Act and intentionally misapplying public property, and have all pleaded not guilty to the charges.