“When I was literally close to death, you were there working closely with my wife Esther to arrange for my being admitted to emergency at 37 hospital”. These were words of appreciation from Tsatsu Tsikata to C.E.O of Dar es Salaam Group of Companies, Alhaji Yusif Ibrahim for his unflinching support while he was ‘wasting’ behind bars

The former GNPC boss during Alhaji’s book launch in Accra, on March 8 2019, extoled him for playing a key role in restoring his health at a time when he (Tsikata) gave up all hope in prison.

According to him, Alhaji teamed up with his wife to help him access health care adding that he was one out of the few people who still cared about his health and believed in his innocence

“I know how generous a human being you are. You were here in Accra making arrangements with the head of 37 at that time while my wife was making arrangement for the ambulance to bring me to 37. By the grace of God I’m still here. I’m sure some people were not happy about how much you cared about my life and innocence. Thank God I was ultimately vindicated,” he asserted.

Background

Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata was jailed under the Kufuor regime, for causing financial loss to the state.



He was sentenced in June 2008 by an Accra Fast Track High Court to five years imprisonment, for wilfully causing financial loss to the state and misapplying public property.

The sentences were to run concurrently.

Tsikata was charged with three counts of wilfully causing financial loss of GH¢ 230,000 (2.3 billion old cedis) to the State through a loan he, on behalf of GNPC, guaranteed for Valley Farms, a private company.

He was also accused of intentionally misapplied GH¢ 2,000 (20 million old cedis) to acquire shares in Valley Farms. Valley Farm contracted the loan from Caisse Centrale, now Agence Française de Dévelopement (ADF), but defaulted in the payment, compelling GNPC as the guarantors, to pay the loan in 1996.