I was told I had to pay $20,000 bribe to Asenso-Boakye – Businessman alleges

The Chief Executive Officer of Alafei Food, Claude Convincer Davit, has accused the Minister of Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye, of soliciting $20,000 to grant him access to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Speaking at an event in a viral video sighted by GhanaWeb, Davit said that the incident happened in 2017 when Asenso-Boakye was the deputy chief of staff at the Office of the President.

He said that he went to the presidency to seek a guarantee for a loan for a project under the government’s flagship One District, One Factory programme but was told he would be allowed access to the president after the payment of the $20,000 bribe, which he refused to do.

“I recount my own visit to Flagstaff House on December 26, 2017, in which the president’s nephew or cousin, Asenso, who was one of two deputy chiefs of staff, solicited a $20,000 bribe in order to either gain access to the president or for further favourable action on the appeal, which I was delivering on behalf of the company, which was a guarantee for a loan by the Exim Bank of Ghana for a One District, One Factory loan from a Ghanaian bank,” he narrated.

The CEO also alleged that the then Northern Regional 1st Vice Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Iddrisu Sunday, was the one who informed him of the bribe, he was to pay and prepared him for it.

“The companies that I worked with are Yendi’s nominee for One District, One Factory, The circumstances of this solicitation of a bribe were that the 1st Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party in the Northern Region, Alhaji Sunday, had taken me to the Flagstaff House and he had prepared me by having that same conversation about 3 or 4 times, informing me basically what would happen.

“That we would probably meet with Asenso, we wouldn’t meet with the president, himself. And that Asenso had the power to even override the president’s favour… Alhaji Sunday made it clear that Asenso’s word was final,” he said.

Convincer Davit said that after the meeting with the president, he (Akufo-Addo) gave his blessing for the guarantee for the loan for the One District, One Factory project.

He added that the NPP vice chairman demanded $2,000 bribe after meeting Asenso, which he declined to pay.

He added after refusing to pay the bribe, Asenso gave a note which they took to the Ministry of Trade and Industry that the final agreement should be passed by him for approval.

The CEO of Alafei Food said that because he refused to pay the bribe “there was no further action on the guarantee for loan”, he was seeking.

Office of Francis Asenso-Boakye responds to allegations

Meanwhile, the office of the Minister of Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye, has denied ever being involved in acts of bribery or corruption, as purported by a certain gentleman, Claude Convincer Davit.

This, the media assistant to Francis Asenso-Boakye has said, is not true.

“We wish to state categorically that the allegation is false and evil. Hon Asenso-Boakye does not know the gentleman in question. He has never met him nor had any interaction whatsoever with him.

“It may be recalled that this is not the first time this allegation has been made against the MP by the same person. It became obvious then that there was no iota of truth in the allegation. It gives cause to wonder why the gentleman will repeat the same allegation at this time if not for evil and malicious intentions,” a statement said.

Read the full statement from Asenso-Boakye’s office below:

RE: SPURIOUS ALLEGATION OF BRIBERY

Paul Yandoh
Media Assistant to the Hon Asenso-Boakye
Tel: +233 26 228 9118

Watch a video of his remarks below: