Assembly allegedly awards a contract to itself using the certificates of a company without the owner’s  permission Assembly pays money into the business account of the company and withdraws the money without the authorisation of the owner Owner complains to the bank and assembly, and orders them never to withdraw any money without his permission But the assembly withdraws GH₵156,000, again without the owner’s authorization The bank fails to notify the owner and fails to tell him who took the money from his account The District Chief Executive of Bongo is a shareholder and director of the bank. The assembly also owns 30% share in the bank, but the DCE disagrees he has any influence on the bank. The Fourth Estate’s investigation establishes who went to the bank to withdraw the money and the role of the assembly in this murky transaction. *********************************************************************** When the CEO of Aporgan K-A Enterprise, Asumbekere Karim Anagbila, got a notification that GH₵31,000 had been withdrawn in cash from his bank account, he was alarmed. But what alarmed him more was the name that came with the alert—David Aruk. David Aruk is the Engineer and head of the works department at the Bongo District Assembly. Karim said he had not permitted him to withdraw any money from his account. But that was not the last time the Bongo District Assembly was involved in withdrawing cash from the account without his permission. On June 14, 2021, a cash amount of GH₵156,520 entered and disappeared from Karim’s account under murkier circumstances than the first withdrawal, this time without any traces. The Fourth Estate’s investigations have revealed that both withdrawals were facilitated by officials of the Bongo District Assembly. The withdrawals, which Karim insists were illegal, were in respect of a shady contract which the Bongo District Assembly allegedly awarded to the management of the assembly using Karim’s company without his permission. The deal was fronted by Baba Nsobilla Sebastian, an official of the National Health Insurance office in the Bongo District. Background Karim’s company, Aporgan K-A Enterprise, was used by the Bongo District Assembly to award a contract without his knowledge and money was paid into his account and withdrawn without his authorisation Karim’s company, Aporgan K-A. Enterprise, was awarded a contract in November 2020 to drill 10 boreholes in some communities in the Bongo District. The Bongo District Chief Executive (DCE), Peter Ayinbisa Ayamga, told The Fourth Estate that the contract was fronted by Madam Diana. In other words, he awarded that contract to Diana. Diana and Karim have told The Fourth Estate that they work together and there’s no disagreement in the execution of the contract. The contract sum was GH₵219,820 and work was supposed to be completed in six months. The payment was to be made based on the amount of work executed at every stage of the contract for which the contractor raised the certificate for payment. The consultant for the project, according to the two-page contract, was the head of the works department of the Bongo District Assembly, David Aruk.  Bongo District Assembly awards contract to the management of the assembly  One of the hand pumps at the site of the controversial contract. Each of these cost about 22,000 cedis to construct. Karim said when he detected the withdrawal of money from his account by the head of the works department of the assembly, he followed up to enquire from the assembly and he was given rather worrying details. Officials of the Bongo District Assembly said someone had used Karim’s company for another contract with the assembly so the GH₵31,000 withdrawn from his account was in respect of that contract. That contract was also for the drilling of 10 boreholes in the district at a cost of GHc219,820. The DCE, Peter Ayinbisa Ayamba, told The Fourth Estate that he awarded that contract to Baba Nsobilla Sebastian at the same time he awarded the other contract to Madam Diana. He said the assembly had followed the procurement process by advertising the contract in the national dailies and attracting interest from contractors across the country before selecting the winners on merit. Asked whether he noticed that both contracts were awarded to two separate individuals who presented the same company, the DCE said at the time he was busy with the 2020 election in which he was the parliamentary candidate for governing New Patriotic Party (NPP). He, therefore, did not have the time to scrutinise the deal properly. Agitated by what had happened Karim caused his lawyers to write demand letters to the bank and the assembly. The parties involved were invited by the Upper East Regional Director of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), formerly the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI). The DCE has confirmed attending this meeting at which the NIB concluded its questioning and said it was writing its report to Accra. Highly placed sources in the intelligence agency told The Fourth Estate that officials of the assembly admitted during interrogation that, indeed, they awarded the contract to the management of the assembly using Karim’s company. David Aruk, according to the NIB sources, was supposed to have sought Karim’s permission to use his company but the assembly realised later that he had not. Peter Ayinbisa Ayamga, however, insisted that he awarded the contract to Baba. Baba opens up on his involvement  Baba Nsobilla Sebastian says the head of works at the assembly, David Aruk, used Karim’s company for the contract. He also revealed how the second amount was withdrawn The Fourth Estate met with Baba Nsobilla Sebastian and asked whether he had the permission of Karim to use his company to bid for the assembly’s contract. Baba said he had not spoken with Karim or anyone close to him about using his company’s certificates to bid for a contract. He said it was the assembly’s head of works department, David Aruk, who facilitated that. “I heard of the advert but as at the time, all my documents [company licences] were not ready… So, I asked engineer [David Aruk] if there was any help.