Rumor Mill of Wednesday, 27 July 2005

Source: DAILY GUIDE

Gissele Exits With Bullets

CONTRARY TO a publication that an assassination attempt was made on the life of Ms Gissele Yajzi, the controversial Iraqi-American, at the centre of the ?Hotel Kufuor? saga, Daily Guide can report that the publication was an imagination of the writers.

Checks at the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) indicate that no such report had been filed to the bureau, and that Ms Yajzi was not known to the US intelligence agency.

Ms. Yajzi?s car was reported to have been shot at, by unsuspecting assailants in an undisclosed vehicle.

At the time of the attack, according to Ghana Palaver, Ms. Yajzi, whom the paper claimed was the target, was in a hairdressing saloon, and her driver was not also, in the vehicle, parked in front of the saloon in Florida, USA.

However, the location of the accident was not given, even though the paper reported that the FBI had relocated the controversial woman, who claimed that she had an intimate relationship with President John Agyekum Kufuor.

The intimate relationship, she explained, was not amorous, but purely professional, threatening to sue anybody or media organisation which would impute, inappropriate relationship.

But the FBI indicated Ms Yajzi has never been on its radar, and that she is not known to its operatives, raising questions about the rationale behind the news report.

The American woman of Arab descent, had complained on Radio Gold, two weeks ago, that she had been receiving threatening calls from unknown destinations.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has assured it was going ahead with its investigations into the purchase of the property, located at the Airport West Residential Area, close to President Kufuor?s private residence, with or without the co-operation of Ms Yajzi.

Ms Yajzi had indicated that she would not testify before CHRAJ, because the acting Commissioner, Ms Anna Bossman, had compromised her position, having had secret meetings with unnamed government officials.

But speaking to journalists in Accra, on Friday, on what the Commission described as misleading information by certain individuals, Ms. Bossman denied the accusation that she had met certain government officials.

?I have not had any secret meeting with any government officials?, she declared.

She also, explained that Commissioner Emile Short who is on secondment to the Rwandan War Crime Tribunal, has not resumed duty, as being speculated by certain media houses.

According to Ms Bossman, Commissioner Short is in the country for a private visit, which has got nothing to do with the anti-corruption agency. She ruled out subpoenaing Ms Yazji to appear before the Commission on its investigations into the hotel matter, stressing that she was beyond the jurisdiction of the country.

We can only ask her to co-operate with us, otherwise we proceed, she indicated.

Speaking to JoyFM?s Newsfile on Saturday, Ms Bossman disclosed that the third commissioner retired just this July, and it is, therefore, erroneous to speculate that she had been sitting as alone ranger.

She also, revealed that the Supreme Court, on July 20, ruled that all three commissioners do not have to sit to make their findings legal.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Minority in Parliament, had been hammering on the issue that the commission lacks the full complement to adjudicate on matters before it.

But Ms Bossman explained that the commission handles about 12,000 cases a year, including five high-profile cases in addition to that of Dr. Richard Anane, the Minister of Road Transport.