General News of Tuesday, 18 December 2001

Source: .

Former ministers stash away millions of dollars - Kwaku Baako

Crusading Guide Editor, Kwaku Baako Jnr says he is currently investigating allegations that several NDC ministers and other former government officials had stashed huge sums of dollars in foreign accounts.

Speaking on GTV’s talk show, “Kwaku One-on-One,” last weekend, Mr. Baako, a known critic of the former regime said he is privy to some strong evidence that will shock Ghanaians, as to the huge amount of money former government officials are hiding in foreign accounts.

“There is some truth in the claims that have come to us. I together with some friends, both in Ghana and abroad, have been following the trail of some financial placements by former members of government and party functionaries and even public servants. I think we have something and one of these days, Ghanaians will be shocked when we tell the full story,” hard critic, Kwaku Baako said.

The only reason Mr. Baako is still keeping his story is that he wants to conduct what he called “a thorough investigation” into the whole allegation before coming out. To him, the issue is a very sensitive one and so needs an intensive investigation.

He said he has personally spoken to some of the former ministers involved in the whole issue and they have confirmed it but gave an explanation. He however refused to mention the names of the persons involved in the alleged impropriety, which has the potential of sending more former ministers to jail.

“That is an industrial secret,” Mr. Baako told the host, Kweku Sakyi -Addo. “I spoke to quite a number of them and some of them tried to explain and rationalize what the whole thing was about. When we finally publish the information, the good people of this country will judge whether it makes sense for any former minister of state or high party functionaries to have this amount of money elsewhere because of what they have told us. Yes, some of them admitted having some millions of dollars in their accounts but tried to justify why this was so.”