In Millions Of Dollars From Norwegian Cement Giant, Reveals Ongoing Court Proceedings In Norway

Findings of painstaking investigations by “The Crusading GUIDE” concerning the hidden financial assets and other properties of ex-President Rawlings and his wife, Nana Konadu, seem to be gaining corroboration and credibility.
According to the Asker and Baerum High Court (in Norway) proceedings – which began on October 20, 2005 - Nana Konadu and Mr. P.V. Obeng were beneficiaries of huge sums of United States dollars paid into anonymous accounts by the management of Scancem, a Norwegian cement giant, headquartered in Oslo, (Norway).
The African representative for Scancem, Mr. Tor Egil Kjelsaas, was hauled before the court for theft by his employers.
Tor Egil Kjelsaas was believed to have paid huge sums of money to some African leaders in order to sustain Scancem’s monopoly over supply of cement to the countries concerned.
According to the court proceedings, in the mid 1990s, there were two anonymous bank accounts in Unibank SA Luxembourg and Barclays Bank SA in Geneva, Switzerland.
These two accounts were earmarked for Ghana, and into them, substantial sums of US dollars were deposited by Scancem.
The court proceedings indicate that between 1993 and 1998, a total of US$1,690,000 dollars was transferred to the Barclays Bank account and a total of US$2,460,000 was paid into the Unibank account during the same period.
The court proceedings also showed that Scancem management believed that the money lodged in the Barclays account, as intended, went to Nana Konadu and that of Unibank went to Mr. P.V. Obeng, then Special Advisor to Rawlings’ (P)NDC governments.
However, in charging Tor Egil Kjelsaas for theft, Mrs. Rawlings and Mr. P.V. Obeng were not mentioned as conspirators.
Testifying, Mr. Gerhard Heilberg, a Scancem official based in Ghana at the time, said Rawlings and his wife were among those who received considerable amounts of money from Scancem. Per G. Jacobsen, a former Scancem Finance Chief, said bribery in Ghana and Africa was done by cash payments.
Giving his testimony, Tor Nygarrd, a management staff of Scancem who effected the payments, said they paid politicians, the party – obviously the National Democratic Congress NDC - and the port authorities.
He said special code forms were developed in Ghana for whom money was paid to; the form was entitled Special Payment and each recipient had his/her own number code.
Tor Nygarrd said the form operated with a total of 14 such codes. Payments for each individual recipient were specified with the date and amount in Ghanaian cedis and American dollars.
Tor Egil Kjelsaas was however, left off the hook on 6th September, 2006 because the court had problems with evidence.
According to the court: “It is part of the nature of the culture of bribes that it will not be possible to trace this, either by the tax authorities or by those for whom those receiving the money are acting or working. As such, it is impossible to provide proof by the party handing over the money in cash that the money actually has been handed over”.
Scancem owned by Norwegian investors, since the 1960s had controlled cement production in Ghana until 1999 when it became known as GHACEM.
Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Rawlings were spotted yesterday by our roving scouts in Amsterdam.
Their mission, however, could not be determined immediately. Stay tuned for more…..