Information gathered indicate that the NPP Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu Constituency, Alexander Afenyo Markin is allegedly involved in some schemes to scandalize James Kofi Annan, who is contesting the Constituency seat on the thicket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
According to the information, Afenyo Markin is purportedly using some police officials at the Winneba Police Command as well as officials at the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), Winneba Branch to do the ‘dirty’ job.
This reporter has established that somewhere last week, James Kofi Annan was invited by the Winneba Police to report at the station in his own interest; an order he flowed but met the absence of the Commander.
Meanwhile, police sources revealed that one Ackah lodged a complaint at the Police Station claiming that someone had wrongfully lodged money into James Kofi Annan’s personal account, and that he was seeking a refund of the said money, for which reason James Kofi Annan was invited to report at the Station.
Following the matter however, James Kofi Annan indicated that the Police CID, Inspector Frank, requested that he writes his statement, for him to be cautioned and charged for Court, when unknown to him, the Police administration, without any discussions with him, had already secured a Court Order, and had managed to procure his bank statement from the GCB Bank, Winneba Branch in breach of faith.
He explained that he received a phone call from a Winneba Police CID, Inspector Frank, instructing him to report to the Winneba District Police Commander the following morning, and when he visited the station as directed, he met the absence of the commander.
“I subsequently informed my Lawyer, who then followed up with calls, to arrange for my next visit. A couple of days ago while I was rounding up my day, I again received a call from the Police CID, Inspector Frank, to report myself to the District Commander, by 8am the following day. I subsequently reported to the station on the said day and time, with my lawyer. Unfortunately, the Police Commander whom I was asked to report to, was not available at the time I arrived, and was never available by the time of leaving the station.”
He said when he was asked to write his statement, his lawyer rightfully declined the request to write the statement, and asked that they come back later with a copy of his bank statement, to be better informed about the transaction.
James Kofi Annan averred that the whole saga begun when on February 2020, a politically interested person donated GHC100,000, to be used for specific activities in the Effutu constituency.
“This money was paid in two equal instalments, one on the 4th of February 2020, with Consolidated Bank Cheque #01 and the other on the 7th of February 2020, with Consolidated Bank Ghana cheque #02. This was during the run up to my transition from Winneba Is King movement, to the NDC, before I was declared as the Parliamentary Candidate,” he stated.
He noted that the donor of the said amount gave him prior notices of the specific days in which those instalment payments were going to be made.
He said: “Several months prior to these installment transactions this same politically interested person had donated GHC10,000 in cash for the payment of some politically related payments. All those donations were received from a prominent sub-chief in the Central Region of Ghana, after requesting for my GCB Bank account details, and the amounts duly paid into the said account, and the bank deposit receipt duly submitted to me,” adding that while the bank deposits were both made by an aide of the traditional leader, Daniel Bortey Stalish, the GHC10,000 cash donation was given personally by the said sub-chief, accompanied by a known individual who introduced the chief to the team.
Meanwhile, it emerged that the company from which the cheque was drawn, Petrinock Invest Enterprise, was registered with the Registrar General’s Department, on November 19, 2019, with the said Ackah, whom he (James Kofi Annan) had never met, as the sole proprietor.
Investigations have also indicated that the telephone number, 0244251598, and the postal address, Post Office Box GP 2420, on the records of the Registrar General’s Department are both linked to the sole owner of the company, Benjamin Ackah, whilst John Banafo is the Secretary to the company.
Also, “the ID card used in registering the above telephone number appears to be nonexistent, and both individuals, Benjamin Ackah and John Banafo, as well as the Postal address used in registering the company, appears to have links with Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Member of Parliament for Effutu, whom I am currently contesting,” James Kofi Annan also claimed.
He also mentioned that the individual, who introduced the said traditional leader to the group is discovered to have strong links to Alexander Afenyo-Markin, and one of his closest confidante, Kofi Kwayera.
“We have discovered independently that John Banafo, who is the Secretary to the company, is the traditional leader’s nephew. This leads us to strongly suspect that Afenyo-Markin is involved in a scheme to entangle me. According to the Police CID investigating the complaint, the complainant claims that the two cheques were wrongfully paid into my GCB Bank personal account, from the Consolidated Bank of Ghana.”
But he explained that he gave his GCB Bank personal account details to only the traditional leader who had promised to donate some amounts of money into the account, and could not understand how the drawer procured his personal bank account number with the GCB Bank.
“How did it happen that the same person twice made mistakes and paid the said amounts into the same account in my name in another bank, from GCB to CBG?,” he asked.
“The traditional leader in question had promised to pay GHC100,000 in two equal instalments into my account number in GCB Bank, which I had given to him, on specific dates (February 4, and February 7). How did it happen that coincidentally both cheques were supposedly paid into the same account on the same promised dates, and in the same equal instalment amounts? After the two instalments were made, the pay-in slips were sent to me by the donor (the said traditional leader) through my organizer. How did it happen that two cheques supposedly wrongfully paid into my account, on different dates, both have their deposit slips sent to the traditional person who promised the amounts, and the person subsequently sent the two slips on their separate occasions, to me? The acceptable banking regulations and practices mandate banks to call back on any withdrawal or transfer transaction above GHC5,000, to be extremely sure that the drawer intends to pay the payee from the said bank account, in the said amount, and to verify the true identity of the signature of the account and on the cheque. Did the Bank undertake their routine call backs? And how did it happen that the Consolidated Bank of Ghana, with all its IT infrastructure and trained personnel, failed to identify the so called errors in any of the two transactions of such magnitude (GHC50,000 each) during those separate dates? Are depositors’ funds safe with the Consolidated Bank of Ghana, if such amounts could escape their diligence?” he said in great surprise.
He however intimated that the said company, Petrinock Investment Enterprise, and its attendant account, were deliberately set up, primarily to wage a smear campaign on his person, and to find something to scandalize him, since his opponent (Afenyo Markin) has so far failed to find any single scandal around him.
He also mentioned that how the Winneba Police went ahead of themselves to procure his personal GCB Bank statement ahead of any personal interaction with him, sparks suspicion.
“I am therefore suspecting that Afenyo-Markin is scheming with the police to scandalize me, and this scheme has unfortunately been exposed,” he said.
He however protested the conduct of the Ghana Police Service in Winneba, and daring the administration to extend their investigations to include all the persons me mentioned, to arrest those behind the scheme, rather than their vailed attempt to focus on an innocent person.
By: PROSPER AGBENYEGA