The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has been petitioned over procurement and public financial management breaches, among other fraudulent practices, at the Cocoa Marketing Company Limited.
Mr. Osei Kwabena, an employee of CMC, has lodged a complaint to that effect since August 15, 2024.
He pointed to the acquisition of a 2007 Toyota Land Cruiser 4×4 vehicle with registered number GX 2509-15 by the CMC.
According to him, the CMC Managing Director had at a management meeting disclosed that the said vehicle had been written off and replaced.
The action and inaction, Mr. Osei stated, not only contravenes CMCs transport policy but raises serious questions of breaches of the Financial Management Act.
Mr. Osei Kwabena, Deputy Special Services Manager, said he requested details of expenses incurred in the transaction, but CMC management has failed to deal with the request.
His concern borders on the fact that the vehicle in question had covered only 31,000 kilometres and had its engine replaced at a staggering cost of GHc416,386.02.
The petitioner said management of CMC has not been able to produce the alleged old vehicle and that physical checks at CMC’s depository at Kaneshie in Accra have no traces of such an old engine, nor was it captured in CMC’s Occurrence Book as it is the practice.
As a result, Osei Kwabena believes no such acquisition of the engine was done and that there was no procurement process.
He also said a vehicle with registration number GE 7615-12, being a 2007 year model that was not penciled for auction, had been “specced” to meet 2022 year model specification, which insurance transaction under a comprehensive cover contravenes CMC Transport Policy because the vehicle was 16 years old at the time it was insured.
The whistleblower believes the entire circumstances surrounding the acquisition suggest a cabal within the CMC poised to milk the company dry.
He suggested that the echelon of the Accounts and Audit departments are either accomplices and therefore have compromised in blatant dereliction of duty and urged the CHRAJ to interrogate the concerns raised thoroughly.
Mr. Osei Kwabena also suggested for the consideration of CHRAJ to possibly have the vehicle brought back and the amounts of GHc348,556 and GHc494,292.75 involved retrieved with interest and all perpetrators of the fraudulent practices appropriately sanctioned to serve as a deterrent to like-minded personnel within the ailing cocoa industry poised to collapse the CMC.
