Kwadwo Mpiani, a former Chief of Staff and the current Chairman of the Finance Committee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has confirmed that the party's National Treasurer, Kwabena Abankwa Yeboah, indeed operated the controversial Ecobank account in such a way that "bordered on criminality."

The Republic Newspaper has picked up hints the alleged activities of the controversial NPP National Treasurer is fully backed in secret by the flagbearer of the party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who has publicly touted his "honesty".

A letter written by Kwadwo Mpiani on August 18, 2015 and intercepted by this paper narrated how the embarrassing spectacle forced a committee to meet on August 18 soon after it became public that Mr. Abankwa-Yeboah and Freddie Blay, the First Vice Chairman of the NPP, solely operated a secret Ecobank account stuffed with over GH¢5 million of NPP money, including filing fees of the party's Parliamentary aspirants.

"Asked about who has the mandate to operate that account, he [Mr. Abankwa Yeboah] responded that the immediate past officers, the National Chairman, the Vice Chairman, the General Secretary and the National Treasurer. When we confronted and told this cannot be true since they are no more officers of the party, he [Abankwa Yeboah] conceded and informed the meeting that the account is being operated by him and the current 1st Vice Chairman, Mr. Freddie Blay," Mr. Mpiani explained in the letter.

According to him, the Committee composed of himself [Kwadwo Mpiani, Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, Dr Adjei Bawuah, the National Chairman Mr. Paul Afoko, General Secretary Kwabena Agyei Agyapong were 'dismayed' by the actions of the National Treasurer and Mr. Freddie Blay in the way they handled NPP funds in that secret account.

"Members were dismayed by this action of the Treasurer since his action was without the knowledge of the Finance Committee or the National Chairman or the General Secretary. The National Treasurer was heavily censured by all at the meeting. He was told that what he had done was wrong, unethical and bordered on criminality," Mr. Mpiani said.

Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani's damning letter vindicated complaints made by Kwabena Agyapong and Paul Afoko that they were deliberately blindsided from knowing about the GH¢5 million account even though the party's constitution gave them the right to oversee how party funds are used.

Some part of the amount in the secret account was said to have been used to finance the recent three-week tour of the party's flagbearer to the United Kingdom.

This revelation by Kwadwo Mpiani comes on the heels of explanation made by Freddie Blay in the heat of the controversy that Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong refused to signed cheques from the secret account hence their decision to settle on the two of them being the sole signatories to the account.

According to Freddie Blay, through his lawyers in answer to criticisms that he was illegally handling NPP funds lodged in Ecobank, the decision emanated from the controversial Steering Committee meeting held earlier this year in the absence of Mr. Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong. Akufo-Addo was present in that meeting said to have comprised of mostly his loyalists.

The fisticuffs in the NPP over the Ecobank secret account is due to the fact that Mr. Abankwah Yeboah and Mr. Freddy Blay are being cited for diverting GH¢5, 200.000.00 of the Party’s funds into a dormant party account named “NPP 2010 Election” in which the two 'fraudulently' enforced themselves as sole signatories.

After converting the mandate of the account to their names, the two allegedly made withdrawals totaling GH¢1, 103,000.00 from the said account without any express authorization from the National Chairman, General Secretary or the Finance Committee. Furthermore, without any further instructions from the National Chairman and General Secretary, information from the bank statement shows that GH¢3, 999.000.00 were lodged in Treasury Bills in which nobody is yet to know its beneficiary.