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GYEEDA Scandal: I was used as scapecoat to reduce corruption claims against John Mahama’s gov’t – Abuga Pele

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“Of course, the barrage of criticisms against the NDC, partly because of GYEEDA and also because of other ministries and institutions was so much, they needed to stem the tide.”

Abuga Pele, the embattled National Coordinator of GYEEDA said when he spoke in his first exclusive media interview with A1 Radio’s Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith.

The former NDC MP was sentenced to six-year imprisonment by an Accra High Court in 2018, for causing financial loss to the state while he was the National Coordinator of the now defunct Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency [GYEEDA].

He was said to have acted in a manner that resulted in the loss of GH¢4.1 million by the government, after businessman Phillip Akpeena Assibit had made false claims that he had secured a $65-million World Bank funding for the creation of one million jobs for the youth.

Abuga Pele was found guilty on two counts of abetment of fraud and five counts of willfully causing financial loss to the state and received six years for abetment of fraud and four years for willfully causing financial loss to the state, both to be served concurrently.

He was given a Presidential pardon in July 2021. Mr. Pele suggested that there were deliberate attempts by some persons within the party to set him up. He was to be used as a scapegoat and take the fall while reducing the claims of corruption against the NDC.

“Yes, I will say that because the presidents appoint people to look after the issues he has assigned. Normally, he [the President] would not normally know but somehow, some people got him convinced that I was supposed to be prosecuted.”

“It was to stem the barrage of criticisms against the NDC government that they were corrupt; particularly on GYEEDA. That was how I felt.”

Mr. Pele again suggested that “because of the way I run the place, very stubborn; I won’t allow certain things to be done, investigating people and all that, I step on a lot of toes. That might also contribute. There are other reasons but I do not want to keep guessing.”

Read Also: Due to Manasseh Azure’s GYEEDA investigation, I also investigated officers for corrupt practices – Abuga Pele

While insisting that he would not use the platform to mention the names of those who manipulated his prosecution, Mr. Pele said he had made peace within himself.

Earlier, Mr. Pele insisted that work had been done by MDPI, the reason they were paid.

“It was said that I abetted the MDPI to take that money they took because they did not do the work but they did the work. I know they did the work. Today, even at gunpoint, I know they did the work. Otherwise, the World Bank would not have agreed to make payments. Even the minister felt the work was done. I don’t want to delve into the rightness or wrongness of my prosecution. I had to carry the cross.”

Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana

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