Regional News of Wednesday, 18 June 2003

Source: GHANAIAN TIMES

6 WR Chiefs Want 15% Shares In GREL

Six chiefs in the Western Region whose land the Ghana Rubber Estate Limited (GREL) is operating on have petitioned President Kufuor to give them 15% out of the 25% government shares in the company. They have also asked the government to release to them ground rents totaling 57 million French Francs for 15 hectares of land collected from GREL.

The chiefs also want the government to investigate the alleged illegal withdrawal of 618,000 dollars from the accounts of GREL by the former Managing Director, Etienne Popelar and former Financial Controller, Kwame Asante.

The petition which was signed by the six chiefs from Nsein, Ahanta, Lower Axim, Lower Discove, Gwira and Wassa Fiase and made available to the media, said since the government has divested the company, they were obliged to claim their share from the government.