An Accra High Court presided over by Her Ladyship, Mrs. Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe has sentenced former National Co-ordinating Director of the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), Mr. Abuga Pele to 6 years imprisonment with hard labour, on the counts of abetment of crime, intentionally misapplying public property and willfully causing financial loss to the State. The Court took into account whether or not he benefited from the proceeds of the contract.
Philip Assibit, a representative of Goodwill International Group was also sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on the counts of defrauding by false pretences and dishonestly causing financial loss to the state.
The Court found that Prosecution proved the 6 counts of defrauding by false pretences against Mr. Phillip Assibit.
On whether or not Mr. Phillip Assibit had secured US$65 million funding from World Bank, as he claimed, for which he demanded pay, the Court found that per all documents before court from the World Bank, no such amount had been secured as at September 2011 when Mr Assibit wrote insisting he had secured that amount, therefore making it a false representation.
The Court also found that Mr. Phillip Assibit made a false representation, when he claimed he had recruited 250 people, prepared an exit plan and was ordered by World Bank to organise tracer studies.
Mr. Philip Assibit and Mr. Abuga Pele had been arraigned before the Financial and Economic Division of the High Court for causing financial loss of GH₵4.1 million to the State.
Mr. Pele and Mr. Assibit signed an MoU which gave Goodwill International Group, the mandate to render services without recourse to the then Minister of Employment or the Attorney-General.
Mr. Assibit was found to have given false representation that he had secured a US$65 million loan facility from the World Bank for the implementation of the Youth Enterprises Development Programme (YEDP) and had, in the process, employed 250 youth to support the implementation of the YEDP, and had also developed and facilitated the launch of an effectual exit programme for all National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) modules.
Mr. Pele was said to have entered into the agreement with Mr Assibit and prevailed upon the State to make payments when no work had been done.
Source: Ghanajustice/F.Kyeremanteng
