Mr Ablakwa, who exposed the deal and subsequently filed a petition with the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate possible corruption, shared new documents on Facebook on Wednesday, July 24. These documents suggest that Ghana Auto Group Limited received favours due to its relationship with the president’s daughters.
Mr Ablakwa's latest revelation connects President Akufo-Addo’s daughters to the deal, raising questions about the Finance Minister's quick approval of the deal and the first payment. According to Mr Ablakwa, one of the directors of Service Ghana Auto Group Limited, Stephen Okoro, “is apparently a very close business partner and longtime associate to two daughters of President Akufo-Addo.”
“The President’s daughter, Gyankroma Akufo-Addo and Stephen Okoro are the only two directors of SFO Initiatives Limited. SFO Initiatives Limited was incorporated on August 9, 2013. The principal activities of the company are building and road construction, civil engineering works, and food and crop farming."
Mr Ablakwa’s investigations also revealed that “On the 12th of August, 2020, Stephen Okoro partnered with Gyankroma Akufo-Addo and Edwina Akufo-Addo to incorporate Goodbox Limited. This time Stephen Okoro took up a company secretary role in Goodbox Limited, registered by the President’s daughters to run a gym. President Akufo-Addo’s appointee, Keli Gadzekpo, who was Board Chair of ECG, was made a shareholder of Goodbox Limited.”
He added, “A few days after, specifically on August 20, 2020, the inseparable three musketeers incorporated Good Grow Limited. Gyankroma Akufo-Addo and Edwina Akufo-Addo are the two directors whilst their ever-loyal confidant, Stephen Okoro, took up the position as company secretary. Interestingly, Good Grow Limited has been established by the presidential daughters and their beloved business associate to grow and farm cannabis. They seem determined to take full financial advantage of Ghana’s new legal cannabis regime which their father spearheaded.”
“From the foregoing, it is now obvious that Ken Ofori-Atta’s midnight approval of the US$34.9 million ambulance spare parts deal and subsequent US$10 million payment was motivated by familial interest," Mr Ablakwa concluded.
The MP believes that “Ken Ofori-Atta’s primary focus was about making his nieces and their special business partner happy. Insider dealing at its frightening best.”
The company received $10 million in February this year after the former Finance Minister reportedly approved payment five days before leaving office. The Auditor-General discovered that Service Ghana Auto Group Limited was illegally engaged and paid for eight months before the government gave them the contract.
According to the Auditor-General, Service Ghana Auto Group Limited was also asked by the government to provide maintenance services in January 2020, even before the company was incorporated on April 24, 2020.