We can confirm that tomorrow, Tuesday, July 24th, former Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Ernest Thompson together with three others who are alleged to have aided and abbetted in the state losing millions of dollars over the SSNIT OBS software will be appearing at an Accra Court to answer for their various roles.
They are to answer for their specific roles in the procurement, acquisition and development by SSNIT of an Operating Business Suit software which led to losses to the state as a result of ‘deliberate overpricing’ and ‘variation of cost’.
Court documents sighted by Ghanakasa.net show the four have been officially charged with causing financial loss to the state in the award of the famous $72million Operating Business Suite (OBS) contract.
The other three are former Head of IT Department, Caleb Kwaku Afaglo; former OBS project manager; John Hagan Mensah and Juliet Hasana Kramah of IT company, Perfect Business Systems, the court documents from the AG’s office stated.
Five persons were initially picked up by the police including one Thomas Samson Owusu but the four are now to face prosecution for willfully causing financial loss to the state.
Earlier a report by the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) was sent to the AG’s office for advice, which has now come leading to the processes culminating in Mr Ernest Thompson’s court appearance tomorrow.
An audit conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers into the OBS saga brought a number of revelations to light, which became an issue for contentious media discussions.
The initial cost of the software procured to automate processes at SSNIT was $34 million when it was awarded to Perfect Business Systems and Silver Lake Consortium in 2012.
But this cost ballooned to $72 million.
Former Board Chairman of SSNIT, Prof Joshua Alabi, also NDC flagbearer hopeful has heaped all the blame for the software on Mr Ernest Thompson who he accused of overspending the budget amount without permission from the board.
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