General News of Friday, 19 June 2009

Source: Citi News

BNI breaks silence on Asabee’s saga

The Bureau of National Investigations have for the first time broken its silence on the raging controversy between Asamoah Boateng and the Bureau of National Investigations.

BNI officials at the Kotoka International Airport have told Citi News it is not true that the men who accosted Asamoah Boateng and his family failed to identify themselves to the beleaguered family.

Stephen Asamoah Boateng has been in the news for some time now for a contract awarded to Plexiform Ventures, a company believed to be owned by his wife’s sister.

Last Sunday, the former Information Minister and his family were prevented from boarding a British Airways Plane to the US by some men purported to be operatives of the BNI.

Asamoah Boateng on Friday morning told Citi News that the BNI denied that the people who stopped him at the airport were its agents.

However speaking to Citi News, the leader of the BNI at the Kotoka International Airport, who pleaded anonymity, dismissed Asamoah Boateng’s claims saying the two men were actually BNI officials who were acting on orders from the headquarters of the BNI.

She also dismissed Asabee’s claim that the men who accosted him and his family failed to identify themselves.

She stated that it is not even possible for non-travellers to enter the departure hall of the Airport without Identity Cards.

Citi News reporter, Richard Mensah who paid a visit to the Airport Friday morning testified that all BNI officials at the Airport were tagged with the Bureau’s identity cards with their names and pictures boldly displayed on them.

The official at the Airport told Richard Mensah that their action against Asamoah Boateng and his family was purely on orders from the headquarters of the Bureau.

She said, they received instructions around 7pm on Sunday to prevent Asamoah Boateng from travelling outside the country since he had an appointment with the BNI on Monday.