The National Lottery Authority has rubbished an allegation of corruption levelled against its Chief Executive Kofi Osei Ameyaw and filed legal action against Joy News a subsidiary of the Multi Media group.
An official of the NLA in an interview with the New Crusading Guide said a contempt writ has been filed against the multimedia group and served on them for disregarding and disrespecting the court where the case has been pending.
The Public Relations Unit of the NLA expressed disappointment at the unprofessional and unethical conduct of Joy News/Joy FM and Multimedia Group Limited over unfair, untrue and biased reports on the Procurement of NEXGO Android Point of Sale Terminals by the Authority.
“First and foremost, the whole content of the documentary is baseless and without any iota of truth.It is never true that the cost of the Android Point of Sale Terminals were inflated by the Director-General of the National Lottery Authority as alleged by the Joy News/Joy FM/Multimedia Group Limited.It is also never true that the National Lottery Authority has procured 30, 000 Android Point of Sale Terminals”, the statement said.
“The Public Procurement Authority gave approval to the Authority to procure 30,000 Point of Sale Terminals but according to the financial strength of the Authority only 5,000 out of the 30,000 Point of Sale Terminals have been purchased. The cost and negotiations for the award of contract to the Manufacturer Shenzhen Xinguodu Technology Limited was approved by the Public Procurement Authority. The Public Procurement Authority directed the NLA to negotiate for a 5% discount on the contract sum prior to the award of the contract to Shenzhen Xinguodu Technology Limited. However, due to the inability of the local partner of Shenzhen Xinguodu Technology Limited to offer the 5% discount as requested by Public Procurement Authority, the PPA therefore directed the National Lottery Authority to go for a 3% reduction instead”, the statement noted.
“The Public Procurement Authority tasked the manufacturer, Shenzhen Xinguodu Technology Limited and its local partner to deliver the POSTs to the NLA through *DELIVERY DUTY PAID(DDP)*. If Joy News/Joy FM/Multimedia Group Limited understands what is DDP, with the greatest of respect, they would not have come up with this bogus documentary of Cost Inflation. However their ignorance cannot be forgiven. Again, the Android Point of Sale Terminals are not just ordinary POST Machines. The Android Point of Sale Terminals have special technological features aimed at supporting NLA to offer VALUE ADDED SERVICES unlike the usual Analogue POSTs Machines which lack the capacity to perform the functions of Value Added Services”, it stated further.
“Therefore, it is very naive and ignorant for Joy News/Joy FM/Multimedia Group Limited to conclude that the Authority has procured 30,000 Android Point of Sale Terminals at an inflated cost of over $10 million dollars. It is instructive to state that, Hon. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, the Director-General of the NLA has sued Multimedia Group Limited in this particular subject matter and the case is still pending at the Court. If not for purposes of propaganda and mischief, Joy News/Joy FM/Multimedia Group Limited has every right under the law to submit their evidence to the Court for final determination of the case but no, they chose to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians and the general public. Martin Amidu, the former Special Prosecutor was investigating this particular case but failed woefully to conclude the investigation before his unfortunate resignation”, it further noted.
“The National Lottery Authority (NLA) SHALL officially sue Joy News/Joy FM/Multimedia Group Limited in the coming days over this baseless and unsubstantiated allegations. The Director-General, Hon. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw SHALL also cite Joy News/Joy FM/Multimedia Group Limited for Contempt in the coming days. We entreat Ghanaians and the general public to totally and wholly ignore the bogus documentary of Joy News/Joy FM/Multimedia Group Limited since the matter is before competent Court of Jurisdiction for a determination”, the statement added.
