Operatives of the National Security last Friday 22nd October, 2021 stormed the Head Office of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) in bid to seek some clarification on intelligence picked.
Our sources say it was in connection with the procurement, supply and handling of NLA’s security thermal paper rolls.
Documents cited show that on 21st June 2021, the NLA awarded a contract for the supply of 135,000 pieces of security thermal rolls at the sum of One Million Three Hundred and Nine Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS 1,309,000.00) to Apollo Steel Ghana Limited.
The details of the contract stipulate that the items are to be delivered at the Head office of the NLA two (2) weeks after the signing of the contract. The items were to be paid for ninety (90) days after supply had been made to the satisfaction of the NLA.
This paper can say on authority that before the supply could be made, the NLA without going through the proper procedure paid the GHS 1,309,000.00 to Apollo Steel Ghana Limited in July 2021.
The National Security and the Ghana Revenue Authority have begun investigations into how the contract was awarded and paid for in breach of the terms of the agreement, the Public Financial Management Act and the Public Procurement Act.
Another issue under investigation is that the said security thermal paper rolls were produced in Nigeria without any security print compliance procedures and were transported by cargo trucks to Ghana through the Aflao border.
The thermal paper rolls were hidden and mixed among consumable products (biscuits, drinks, toiletries etc) and smuggled into Ghana at the Aflao border last Friday, 22nd October 2021, without paying the required duties on them.
Because of the poor handling of the security thermal paper rolls some of them dropped from the trucks on its way to the Head of Office of the NLA compromising the security of NLA operations at the various points of sale terminals.
