The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service is reportedly investigating Kofi Adams, National Organizer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), over the fleet of vehicles retrieved from his residence last week.
And it is being speculated that he’s ‘struggling’ with documentations regarding ownership of the vehicles.
Kofi Adams, who was also the campaign coordinator of ex-President Mahama’s re-election bid in the 2016 national polls, was said to have reported to the CID Headquarters in Accra on Tuesday for questioning over the vehicles.
According to information available to DAILY GUIDE, contrary to report that five SUV vehicles were found in his house, there were other vehicles, including six Toyota Land Cruiser V8s which had allegedly been taken out of the house to unknown locations.
Scanty Details
A CID source told DAILY GUIDE that the NDC organizer reported at their office and was asked to go back and bring more documents covering the seized vehicles, including two V8 Land Cruisers and three brand new Toyota pick-ups; but the whereabouts of four V8s were reportedly unknown.
Five vehicles – two Toyota Land Cruiser V8s with registration numbers GS 7451-12 and GN 7796-16 – and three Nissan Hard Body pick-ups with registration numbers GM 842-16, GM 823-16 and GM 846-16, were seized from his Golf City area home in Tema last week Wednesday.
According to reports, some of the vehicles were purchased in the name of the state but the current owner allegedly scrapped [tampered] with the Chassis numbers under the wind shield of the pickups and sealed the place with a metal – all in an attempt to change ownership of the vehicles.
Interestingly however, they could not scrap the Chassis numbers in the engine.
One of the Toyota Land Cruiser V8s with registration number GS 7451-12 was indeed part of the presidential escorts, according to information reaching DAILY GUIDE.
Other Vehicles With CID Apart from Kofi Adams’ vehicles, there are three others – a luxurious BMW and Toyota Camry belonging to other NDC gurus – that have also been intercepted by the police and are being investigated to establish whether they are government vehicles.
A brand new Toyota Camry, according to the police source, was auctioned to the NDC owner at just GH¢4,000, raising questions from investigators.
The source said that the documents Kofi Adams had brought were ‘insufficient’ to cover the five vehicles which were still in the custody of the police at the CID Headquarters.
Further Investigations
The police, according to the source, have not concluded their investigations to establish whether indeed the vehicles belong to Mr Kofi Adams or not, since there are too many ‘mysteries’ surrounding the acquisition of those vehicles.
There have been claims that the chassis numbers of the vehicles have either been removed or replaced and the police were said to be liaising with both the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and the Customs division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to establish the true ownership of the vehicles.
Kofi Adams has already said that all the vehicles belong to him, denying that they are government vehicles.
Bragging
He even bragged that as a high-profile officer of a party like the NDC, he is capable of acquiring such vehicles.
He was in far away Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, when National Security operatives with the support of personnel from the DVLA and the GRA, stormed his residence and seized the vehicles – having gone there earlier.
Real Struggle
Immediately Mr Kofi Adams returned from the trip, he created the impression that he was going to collect the vehicles without any sweat.
However, it is turning out that he is ‘struggling’ to provide the necessary documents as proof of ownership in order for the vehicles to be released to him by the police.
Since Kofi Adams reported to the police, he has suddenly gone underground.
Information gathered by this paper indicates that the security team that stormed his residence initially saw eight V8 Land Cruisers but when they returned to pick them, four had vanished and they managed to ‘seize’ only two.
Bombshell
Last week, Nana Obiri Boahen, Deputy General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), alleged that the vehicles taken from Kofi Adams’ house belong to the state.
According to Nana Obiri Boahen, most of the vehicles were “stolen from government,” and their chassis numbers were changed and sold to Kofi Adams.
Nana Obiri Boahen stated for instance, that the chassis number of one of the V8 Land Cruisers with registration number GM 843-15, was changed before it was transferred to Kofi Adams saying, “I’m telling you authoritatively that Kofi Adams’s car is a Government of Ghana vehicle. It was stolen and sold.”
In the heat of the confusion, National Security Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah, was said to have directed the return of the vehicles and Kofi Adams had said later that he asked the caretaker of his residence to return the vehicles to the police until his arrival.
200 Vehicles Missing
Meanwhile, Director of Communications at the presidency, Eugene Arhin, has stated that over 200 vehicles in presidential pool were nowhere to be found at the Flagstaff House. None of former President John Mahama’s numerous Toyota Avalons as well as the Land Cruisers can be traced at the pool at the Flagstaff House, with strong suspicion that they have been hidden at certain locations. Subsequently, Eugene said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had been forced to use a 2007 model of a saloon car to discharge his duties in Accra.
“President Akufo Addo is currently using a 2007 BMW model purchased by the state during the Ghana @50 celebrations…That is what he is using. So where are the cars?” he questioned.
Speaking on Neat Fm’s ‘morning show’ programme yesterday, Eugene stated that when going on a long journey outside the capital, the president uses his own private vehicle.
“Just last week Saturday, the president had to use his private Land Cruiser for an official duty in Kyebi. That is the same Land Cruiser he used during the campaign time,” he told the host of the programme.