State vehicles: – 67 retrieved, 234 still missing – Ayikoi Otoo

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Government says although it received a list of 707 state vehicles from the former National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, it still cannot locate 234 vehicles.

Nii Ayikoi Otoo who was the Chairman of the Executive Assets Subcommittee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Transition Team told Joy News, the list of 707 included 176 V8s, 53 Toyota Landcruiser Prados, Saloon vehicles, Ambulances.

But in total, the government has in its custody 473 state vehicles.

The government has accused the former administration of illegally appropriating state vehicles to its officials after the NDC lost power in the 2016 polls.

It claimed last February, the government could not trace 208 vehicles.

Government set up a taskforce with officials from the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Revenue Authority (Customs Division), the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), and persons from the Office of the President.

The Former Attorney-General under the Kufuor administration said, the task force has successfully retrieved 67 government vehicles which were originally not listed by the outgone administration.

Going forward, Mr. Ayikoi Otoo hinted, the task force would liaise with DVLA to alert the police to effect the arrest of persons who would attempt to register the missing vehicles in their names.

Mr. Ayikoi Otoo added that an asset register was also not handed over to the committee he chaired during the transition period.

The NDC had rejected earlier claims that 208 vehicles were missing.

A statement signed by a former Deputy Chief of Staff, Johnny Osei Kofi, described the claims  “false, baseless and without merit”