SSNIT OBS Contract case adjourned to January 22

The state is having difficulty in producing witnesses to testify in the case of former Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) boss, Ernest Thompson and four others who have been charged for causing financial loss to the state.

According to Mr Richard Gyambiby, a Senior State Attorney the state is however resolving that issue so that case management conference could go ahead.

The matter was therefore adjourned to January 22, next year to enable the prosecution put their house in order.

Mr Thaddeus Sory, who represented Juliet Hasana Krampah, Managing Proprietor of Perfect Business System, said the state was delaying the case.

Thompson,Krampah and three others namely Caleb Kwaku Afaglo, former Head of SSNIT Information  Technology (IT) Department, John Hagan Mensah former OBS project manager and Peter  Hayibor of the SSNIT Legal Department.

They are jointly being charged with 29 counts of conspiracy, willfully causing financial loss to the state and contravention of the Public Procurement Act.

The accused persons were said to have caused a loss of 72 million dollars in the Informational Technology (IT) Operational Business Suit (OBS) Contract, which sought to provide state-of-the art pension administration systems.

Afaglo has additionally been charged with defrauding by false pretenses, possession of forged documents and altering forged documents.

All the accused persons have however denied the charges and are on bail.

The matter came up following the awarding of the controversial 72 million dollar OBS contract for the development of software to help SSNIT in its dealing with pensioners.

The amount involved in the contract was initially 34 million dollars but it was allegedly inflated later to the detriment of the state.

Source: GNA