Accra, Ghana - Another former minister has been questioned by the Ghana police in connection with his alleged role in the award of contracts for the rehabilitation and construction of sports stadiums in the West African state for the 2008 African Cup of Nations which led to the payment of a huge controversial judgement debt to a businessman who claimed the contract his company won for the job was illegally abrogated.

Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Education and Sports Minister under President John Agyekum Kufuor, was on Tuesday questioned by the Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for some four hours after which he was allowed to go home.

He is the second minister under former President Kufuor, after former Deputy Minister of Education and Sports, Osei Bonsu Amoah, to be questioned in connection with the payment of the controversial 51.28 million Ghana cedis judgement debt to businessman Alfred Woyome. (US$1.00=1.7 Ghana cedis)

Mr Amoah, who was arrested on Sunday night, was released on 20 million Ghana cedis bail on Monday after being charged with causing financial loss to the state.

According to the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO), which investigated the controversial judgement debt paid to Woyome, “Mr Osafo-Maafo was the Minister of Education and Sports at the time of the tender for the construction/rehabilitation of stadia for CAN 2008.

'He was the author of the Cabinet Memo dated July 27, 2005, which informed Cabinet of the illegality of the intended action to abrogate the tender process for the CAN 2008 stadia works. However, he was the same person, who knowing that it was illegal to terminate the process at the stage it had reached, went ahead to do so.”

Four people, Woyome, Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh, Chief State Attorney in Charge of the case at the Attorney General’s (AG) Department, his wife Gifty and Paul Asimenu, Director at the Legal Department of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, are being tried at the Accra High Court for various charges in connection with the payment of the money to Woyome.

Pana 22/02/2012