Kweku Baako Jnr and Egbert Faibille, editors of the Crusading Guide and The Independent newspapers have described the rumours making rounds that they have been bribed to defend Dr Wereko-Brobby, the beleaguered Chief Executive Officer of the VRA as baseless, untrue and mischievous.

Egbert Faibille says he considers the rumour that he and Baako are on the payroll of the VRA as ''complete hogwash, hocus-pocus, coming from the minds of those who cannot hold their own against decent-minded people''.

According to him, he first heard the rumour that he and Baako were taking ?3 million each every week from VRA management, from some VRA staff at the Electro Volta House some two weeks ago.

His immediate response, Mr Faibille recalled, was to dismiss the rumour as a joke with the explanation that if he and Baako had been on the payroll of the VRA ''then this must reflect in their books''.

However he said, he became alarmed when a reliable source told him that there was a report on the matter from the National Security to the President. He immediately cross-checked with the National Security Co-ordinator who denied the existence of any such report.

In a separate interview, Kweku Baako Jnr indicated that it was Ben Ephson who first told him about the allegation. This was after he (Ephson) received a phone call from a source at the VRA that Baako and Faibille were on the payroll of the VRA, hence the pro-Wereko-Brobby position the two of them and their newspapers were perceived to have taken in the VRA saga.

Kweku Baako has however described the allegation as ''a piece of pure nonsense''.