Information available to Joy News indicates that the Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies has been invited by the police for questioning over some questionable contracts.
The Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service, sources say, wrote to Mr Joseph Siaw Agyepong following Joy News’ investigative series detailing questionable contracts involving subsidiaries of the Jospong Group.
The letter was reportedly sent on Wednesday afternoon.
Joy News can also confirm that the investigation was authorised by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Gloria Akuffo.
The CID also wrote to Joy News’ lead investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, to assist with the investigations into a waste bin contract awarded to subsidiaries of the Group.
Manasseh after nine months of investigations discovered that the Local Government Ministry last year awarded a $74 million contract to five subsidiaries of the Jospong Group to supply one million waste bins and 90,000 bin liners.
He found that the waste bins were not needed as a similar contract awarded by the ministry in 2014 had yet to be fully performed – 55,000 waste bins were yet to be taken from the suppliers.
About 100,000 waste bins under that contract distributed to metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies were lying waste.
In spite of this, the ministry awarded another contract to the five Jospong subsidiaries under single sourcing to supply the waste bins.
Joy News also found out that the contract sum may have been inflated by about GHS130 million.
Our sources say the businessman is expected to assist the police with investigations into fumigation contracts which are also of a questionable character.
Meanwhile, Joy News has gathered all sanitation contracts with subsidiaries of the Jospong Group have been suspended.
The various MMDAs have been directed by government to take over the management of sanitation in their respective jurisdictions in the mean time.
More soon…