Mr Philip Akpeena Assibit, the first accused person in the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) case, said, his company paid all monies due the Management and Development Productivity Institute (MDPI) for consultancy services done for Goodwill International Group GIG).
The accused said this during cross-examination by prosecution led by Mrs Evelyn Keelson, a Chief State Attorney who pointed out to the accused that MDPI did receive any money from the accused.
The state attorney said “You did not pay any money to MDPI and no invoice or receipt are on record.”
Assibit however denied this and said if it was so the MDPI would not have worked with his company and even accommodate them in their office premises.
The State said MDPI did not come after GIG for payment, because they did not conduct any consultancy services for NYEP/ jointly or alone but the accused said it was not true that MDPI did not do any work with GIG.
Mrs Keelson pointed to the accused that, he added MDPI to project account not for consultancy services but to deceive the authorities that GIG was collaborating with a credible public institution but the accused denied and said they were part of the process.
She suggested to the accused that between April 2011 and April 2012, he (Assibit) personally took GH? 1.948,626.68 from government through a false representation but the accused said, he received the money on behalf of the company, he worked for, since the company had a contract with NYEP.
Mrs Keelson pointed out to the accused that he paid the cheques he received from NYEP into his private account rather than a supposed joint account, but he claimed, he paid the money into a joint account.
“Witness testimonies, statements and other documentations in court confirmed that there is an engagement between GIG and MDPI and we worked together on various projects for which payment was made,” he said.
“We were paid for work done accordingly and some of the works were done with pre-funding budget,” Assibit said defensively.
The State said the accused had no single correspondent with the World Bank on the supposed consultancy but he said it was true but that was because they were not consultants to the World Bank but rather, it was the NYEP that engaged them.
He said the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the NYEP provided them with sources of information on the project from the World Bank.
He told the court that it would be unfair for him to be held personally liable since they worked as a team of consultants.
“I only worked within a team for NYEP, so it will not be fair if I am singled out to blame for copying a document.”
The Mr Abuga Pele, the former National Co-ordinator of GYEEDA and Mr Assibit, a Representative of Goodwill International Group (GIG) are facing various charges of causing financial loss to the state to the tune of GH?4.1 million.
Assibit is accused of putting in false claims that he had secured a 65-million-dollar World Bank funding for the creation of one million jobs for the youth, which led government to part with GH¢4.1 million to his company but he failed to deliver per the agreement.
The case has been adjourned to Tuesday November 28 by the High Court presided over by Mrs Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe.
Source: GNA
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