SP summons Juaben MCE nomineeover bribery scandal …as GII demands arrest of assembly members
The Special Prosecutor (SP), Kissi Agyebeng, has invited Alex Sarfo Kantanka, the Municipal Chief Executive nominee for Juaben Municipality in the Ashanti Region, for questioning following a viral video of him allegedly demanding a refund of bribes he paid to Assembly members for his confirmation.
He described Mr. Kantanka as “a person necessary for investigation”.
In a letter addressed to Mr Kantanka to be at the Office of the Special Prosecutor in Accra on November 9, 2021, for an interview and he may be accompanied by counsel of his choice,
Mr. Agyebeng in the letter indicated that his office had commenced investigation into allegations of corruption and corruption-related offences, especially corruption and intimidation in respect of public election, particularly in relation to Mr Kantanka’s nomination and confirmation or otherwise as the Municipal Chief Executive for Juaben Municipality.
The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) is demanding for heads of assembly members from Juaben Municipality who allegedly took bribes from Mr Kantanka in exchange for votes if assembly members received bribe, they should be arrested.
Mary Addah, Programmes Manager at GII, contended that per the law, both giver and receiver were culpable “if found to have indeed engaged in the act since the onus lies on the police to also pick them up, and it is also for Mr Kantanka to prove he gave monies to unduly influence processes and was supposed to benefit from”.
She said Mr Kantanka needed to come clean with how much he gave and who he gave, the police would take it from there.
The president’s nominee was rejected by assembly members and was captured in secretly filmed video, demanding refund of bribe he allegedly paid to some of them after they rejected him during nearly chaotic confirmation processes.
The rejected nominee was captured in a video hurling insults and curses at some individuals believed to be assembly members for accepting his money but refusing to confirm him as substantive Municipal Chief Executive and was also seen angrily exchanging words with some assembly members and demanding return of monies paid to them.
Mr Kantanka demanded everyone who accepted cash returned his money urgently however, the police arrested him and subsequently granted self recognisance bail and also commenced investigation into alleged bribe payments. –citinewsroom.com
