The High Court sitting in Accra on Thursday, October 27 acceded to a request by the former boss of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei for his passport to be released to him to enable him to renew his British visa and to travel for business.

In granting his request, the Court added that he should deposit a copy of the passport at the office of the Registrar of the court after renewing the visa.

The Court further reminded him that the trial begins on November 29, 2022 and that he should be present for court proceedings.

Mr. Boateng Adjei and his brother-in-law, Mr. Francis Kwaku Arhin, are standing trial on corruption and corruption-related offences.

They were granted GH¢5million bail with two sureties to be justified. As part of the bail conditions, Mr. Boateng Adjei was charged with 17 counts made up of eight counts of using public office for profit and 9 counts of directly and indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage.

In May 2022, the ‘Contract for sale’ scandal took another twist as new information emerged that the dismissed Public Procurement Authority (PPA) boss has allegedly withdrawn all funds from his frozen bank accounts.

This flies in the face of a court order not to release cash from the account to him.

Investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, whose investigative piece exposed Mr. Adjei, told JoyNews that he has received information about this new development.

Speaking on Joy FM’s midday news on Wednesday, May 18, the 2012 GJA ‘Journalist of the year’ explained that the accounts which were frozen during the investigation by the then Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, were for a period upon which it needed the court’s justification.

“When Martin Amidu froze the accounts, it was for a period, and he had to go back to the court to justify why the accounts remain frozen. In the process, he resigned and left, and it took some time for his successor to take office,” he said.

Mr. Awuni noted that during the period when the new Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, had to take over, the dismissed PPA boss went through his lawyers to get a court to lift the freezing order and withdrew all monies from his frozen accounts.

According to him, the dismissed PPA boss currently has no pesewas in those accounts, which were frozen and contained about ¢41.5 million.

“In the intervening period, we are told A.B. Adjei went through his lawyers and got the court to lift his frozen order; after that, even before Mr. Kissi Agyebeng took office, he took everything from all the funds that were deposited in his account.

“If you look at the statement Martin Amidu released on the work he had done with the Auditor-General, his accounts had huge deposits, totaling about ¢41.5 million within the two and half years he was in office. The information we are getting is that not a pesewa is left in those accounts,” he added.