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CEPS witness scared, tells committee
Accra, Sept. 18, Ghanadot/GNA – Ms. Millicent Akpo-Teye,
until recently head of the Tema Auction Unit of Customs,
Excise and Preventive Service on Tuesday expressed concern
about her safety to the enquiry committee, sitting in Accra.
She prayed for her safety after having denied allegations of
having demanded and offered a bribe by Regina Mame Bempomaa,
a bidder at auctions at Tema Port, who was at the sitting to
cross-examine her.
The Witness said Maame Bempomaa was inciting other bidders
and her former chauffeur to come to the committee's sitting
to testify against her.
The Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Justice Samuel Glenn
Baddoo, pressed for Ms. Akpo-Teye to mention names, but
witness mentioned only one name - Auntie Adjoa Boadiwaa, a
bidder at the Tema Port.She then prayed the Committee for
the matter to end there.
Regina Mame Bempomaa and her husband, Mr Felix Ampomah
Anarfi, both bidders at the Tema Port said they had at
various times this year, given bribe of various items
and money to Ms Akpo-Teye to influence her to allocate
certain particular goods to them at auctions at the Tema
Port.
They said they had at three separate occasions offered Ms.
Akpo-Teye V-3 Motorola Mobile phone, some dresses, another
500 Ghana Cedis and tubers of yam, another 400 and 1000
Ghana cedis to the witness.
Ms Akpo-Teye denied all the allegations.
Earlier, Mr Emmanuel Nmashie Doku, the Commissioner for CEPS,
in evidence said that the Service was taking the necessary
steps to dispose off all goods that had overstayed in the
Port to get the necessary revenue.
He said it was now a major policy that all the monitoring
systems were fully developed.
The Committee was inaugurated last July to investigate
allegations of operational malpractices at CEPS to establish
administrative actions against culpable personnel and
identify management weaknesses in dealing expeditiously with
disciplinary matters.
It would also review the systems, procedures, processes,
rules and regulations of CEPS in relation to its auction
procedures to recommend specific actions or alternatives of
disposing of seized goods.
The committee is also examining the role of clearing agents,
auctioneers and other related matters.
GNA
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