The management of the Metro Mass Transit (MMT) has denied reports that GH¢2.5 million of the company’s funds had been embezzled by five employees. According to the acting Managing Director of the MMT, Mr Maxwell Awuku, the amount stolen was GH¢4,800 and for doing that the culprits had been dismissed and denied all of their entitlements. Addressing journalists in Accra Wednesday, Mr Awuku said that those behind the allegation had an agenda to tarnish the hard-earned image of the company, his own reputation and that of his deputy, Mr Martin Afram. The Daily Graphic yesterday carried a report which said five employees of the MMT, including the Western Regional Manager, Mr Lawrence Fianu, had embezzled more than GH¢2.5 million belonging to the company. Mr Awuku said he was upset that the Daily Graphic referred to him in the said publication as the former managing director, stating, “I am still the MD of the MMT and I report to the board of directors. Until the board decides my fate, no one can do so.” He said since he took over as managing director in 2010, the management had turned “the sinking MMT into an international transport award winning company”, adding, “I have just returned from Madrid in Spain with an award acclaiming the success of the MMT.” “I do not know how the source came by those figures, but I can assure you that the MMT is doing fine and is not bleeding,” he claimed, in apparent reference to the headline of the said publication. Commenting on the achievements of the company under his leadership, Mr Awuku claimed that the salaries of the over 4,500 MMT workers had since increased by almost 72 per cent. “The MMT, from its own internally generated funds, procured 150 buses, which cost the company over $11 million, and provision has been made to procure 50 more buses this year, including air-conditioned luxury buses. “If the MMT has been able to achieve all these, why would anybody say it is sinking or bleeding?” he queried. He stressed that under no circumstance would the management of the MMT allow anybody to embezzle so much of the company’s money and be allowed to go scot-free. Turning the spotlight on himself, Mr Awuku explained that he recently received a letter from the Minister of Transport, Ms Dzifa Attivor, asking him to step down. According to him, in a reply to the minister’s letter, he told her that she could not give that directive, explaining to her that the MMT board which appointed him had that mandate. “Since then, I have not heard from the minister again,” he claimed.