Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), Professor Frimpong Boateng, has debunked reports that a purported driver of John Boadu, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) General Secretary, paid bribe to Operations Vanguard, the anti-galamsey taskforce.

Reports on social media in the early hours of Thursday, February 7, 2019 suggested that a driver of Mr. Boadu scribe paid GHC40,000 as bribe when he was arrested by the taskforce.

But Prof. Boateng, who chairs IMCIM, told DAILY GUIDE in an interview yesterday that the allegations were untrue.

He said that his outfit has not received any report about the payment of bribe by a driver of Mr. Boadu to the anti-galamsey taskforce.

According to him, “John Boadu, the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, is not even in the country; his driver is not there. So it may be a case of impersonation but I can assure you that from our investigations, the driver of John Boadu is not around in that forest.”

Press secretary and special aide to Mr. Boadu, Iddi Muhayu-Deen, also issued a disclaimer, saying the driver of his boos has not been arrested.

According to Iddi Muhayu-Deen, Mr. Boadu has no driver by name Evans Kwarfo, adding that he has only one driver called Kwame Amo, who resides in Accra.

“Kwame Amo does not own a mining concession in the Ashanti Region or anywhere for that matter, and certainly could not have been arrested for this offense as claimed in the Joy News reportage.”

“It’s expected of a responsible media house like Joy News to crosscheck their facts before airing same, as required by the very ethics of the journalism profession.”

“Mr. John Boadu takes serious view of the matter, and while demanding a retraction and apology from Joy News for this disservice, wishes to caution all persons using his name to perpetrate such criminal enterprise, including extorting money from people, to desist forthwith in their own interest.”