The former deputy Power Minister John Jinapor’s house was raided by some personnel from the Police service and National Security on Friday morning in connection with the 2015 AMERI deal.
Two of the police men effecting the raid were reported to have been armed with AK 47 assault rifles. They were in search of documents related to the controversial AMERI contract.
Mr Jinapor, the MP for Yapei Kusawgu, was on his way to Parliament when he was restrained and held for about two hours.
This raid follows the former Minister for Power, Kwabena Donkor, having his home subjected to a thorough search by personnel from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on Monday morning.
In Dr Donkor’s case, the CID was searching for evidence implicating the former minister in financial loss to the State, as a result of his involvement in the AMERI deal.
The cost of the AMERI deal was $510m and received Parliamentary approval on March 20, 2015. However, the current government contends that the country had been shortchanged by AMERI, noting that, the contractor, PPR, actually built and financed the plant at a cost of $360 million, yet AMERI, which secured the deal, forwarded a bill of $510 million in the agreement.
Reports said the Mahama administration had paid in excess of $150m, but state officials for that administration disagreed.
The Minority in Parliament condemned the raid on the residence of Dr Donkor and alleged that the move was carefully engineered by the Akufo-Addo administration to silence opposition critics.
The Minority expressed reservations with the fact the warrant for the raid on Dr Donkor’s residence was based on the order of a lower court, whilst contending that the integrity of citizen’s private communication was protected per law.
It was also upset with the fact Dr Donkor was apparently unaware he was the subject of any investigation until he was shown the court order that he is a suspect in any investigation.
