Woyome arrested
Alfred Agbesi Woyome, the man at the centre of the GH¢51 million fraudulent payments, has been arrested in Accra Ghana.
The decision to arrest Mr Woyome was taken at a meeting held at the Castle involving President John Atta-Mills, Dr Benjamin Kumbour, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and the Interior Minister.
The final decision to effect the arrest of Mr Woyome was taken around midday.
What the meeting could not reach a conclusion on was whether it should extend to the former Attorney-General, Betty Mould Iddrisu, who authorised the payments of the money to Mr Woyome. Information, however, available to the New Statesman is that she will be picked up for questioning and quickly bailed afterwards.
Intriguingly, Mr Woyome was fully aware of the details of the meeting and was aware he was about to be arrested.
Mr Woyome was asked to tender his resignation as the Chairman of the National Board for Small Scale Industries before his arrest. Though the letter has not been prepared before the arrest, the resignation was deliberately leaked to the media.
Woyome, meanwhile, according to sources close to him, has threatened to disclose names of major beneficiaries of his controversial multi-million judgement debt if he is left to hang.
Next on the list of persons to be arrested are the Chief State Attorney, Mr Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh, and Mr Paul Asimenu, Director, Legal, at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
Mr Paul Asimenu, according to the interim EOCO report, was the person who wrote the opinion which eventually led to the decision that Mr Woyome was entitled to his claim.
Mr Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh, on the other hand, admits to drafting all letters which Mrs Mould-Iddrisu sent to Dr Kwabena Dufuor concerning the transactions leading to the payments to Mr Woyome. He was involved in the negotiations which led to the first settlement for an amount of over GH¢41 million and indeed witnessed it and therefore when the Ministry of Finance refused to pay and Mr Woyome went to court, he found it unconscionable to go to court and defend the action.
An amount of GH¢400,000 was also paid to the wife of Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh on June 16, 2011 by Mr Woyome
Friday, February 3, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Japanese auto suppliers fined for price fixing
Two Japanese auto parts suppliers will pay more than a half billion dollars for price fixing in a vast conspiracy in the US automotive market, the Justice Department said Monday.
Yazaki Corporation and Denso Corporation agreed to plead guilty and to pay $548 million in criminal fines for their involvement in the price-fixing and bid-rigging scheme, the department said.
Yazaki will pay $470 million, the second-largest US criminal antitrust fine in history, and Denso will pay $78 million, it said.
Yazaki and Denso and their co-conspirators sold wire harnesses and related electrical and electronic components to automobile manufacturers at inflated prices and ran a bid-rigging and price-fixing scheme, the Justice Department said.
"All of these parts are essential to the wiring, circuit boards, gauges and fuel tanks of automobiles," Sharis Pozen, Justice's acting antitrust chief, said in a statement.
In the same case four Yazaki executives, all Japanese nationals, have agreed to plead guilty, pay a $20,000 criminal fine, and serve prison time in the United States, it said.
The executives were identified as Tsuneaki Hanamura, Ryoji Kawai, Shigeru Ogawa and Hisamitsu Takada. The department said they participated in the conspiracies at least as early as January 2000 until at least February 2010.
"The executives, who held various positions in Yazaki with responsibilities including managing sales to Honda and Toyota, participated in the wire harness conspiracy," Pozen said.
The four executives face prison sentences ranging from 15 months to two years. They have all agreed to assist in the investigation, the department said.
The fine amounts and prison sentences are subject to court approval.
The actions marked the second round in a sweeping probe of auto parts suppliers.
In late September, Japanese firm Furukawa Electric Company pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a $200 million fine for its role in the wire harnesses conspiracy.
Three of its executives also pleaded guilty; two have already been sentenced to prison and one is awaiting sentencing next month.
"The auto parts investigation is the largest criminal investigation the Antitrust Division has ever pursued, both in terms of its scope and the potential volume of commerce affected," Pozen said.
"Our investigation is still active and ongoing."
More than $748 million in fines have been collected in the investigation.
"Criminal antitrust enforcement remains a top priority and the Antitrust Division will continue to work with the FBI and our law enforcement counterparts to root
out this kind of pernicious cartel conduct that results in higher prices to American consumers and businesses," Pozen said.
Yazaki Corporation and Denso Corporation agreed to plead guilty and to pay $548 million in criminal fines for their involvement in the price-fixing and bid-rigging scheme, the department said.
Yazaki will pay $470 million, the second-largest US criminal antitrust fine in history, and Denso will pay $78 million, it said.
Yazaki and Denso and their co-conspirators sold wire harnesses and related electrical and electronic components to automobile manufacturers at inflated prices and ran a bid-rigging and price-fixing scheme, the Justice Department said.
"All of these parts are essential to the wiring, circuit boards, gauges and fuel tanks of automobiles," Sharis Pozen, Justice's acting antitrust chief, said in a statement.
In the same case four Yazaki executives, all Japanese nationals, have agreed to plead guilty, pay a $20,000 criminal fine, and serve prison time in the United States, it said.
The executives were identified as Tsuneaki Hanamura, Ryoji Kawai, Shigeru Ogawa and Hisamitsu Takada. The department said they participated in the conspiracies at least as early as January 2000 until at least February 2010.
"The executives, who held various positions in Yazaki with responsibilities including managing sales to Honda and Toyota, participated in the wire harness conspiracy," Pozen said.
The four executives face prison sentences ranging from 15 months to two years. They have all agreed to assist in the investigation, the department said.
The fine amounts and prison sentences are subject to court approval.
The actions marked the second round in a sweeping probe of auto parts suppliers.
In late September, Japanese firm Furukawa Electric Company pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a $200 million fine for its role in the wire harnesses conspiracy.
Three of its executives also pleaded guilty; two have already been sentenced to prison and one is awaiting sentencing next month.
"The auto parts investigation is the largest criminal investigation the Antitrust Division has ever pursued, both in terms of its scope and the potential volume of commerce affected," Pozen said.
"Our investigation is still active and ongoing."
More than $748 million in fines have been collected in the investigation.
"Criminal antitrust enforcement remains a top priority and the Antitrust Division will continue to work with the FBI and our law enforcement counterparts to root
out this kind of pernicious cartel conduct that results in higher prices to American consumers and businesses," Pozen said.
Gunmen attack police, Nigeria Islamists vow to keep fighting
Gunmen attacked a police station in Nigeria's flashpoint city of Kano on Sunday sparking a shootout with police, just hours after Islamists vowed to keep up their campaign of violence.
The attack followed the January 20 assault by the Islamist group Boko Haram that killed at least 185 people in Nigeria's second city -- and after a string of recent threats of more violence from the group.
Boko Haram's intensifying insurgency, which security forces have struggled to contain, has shaken Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer, mainly in the Muslim-dominated north where the attacks have been focused.
"A large number of gunmen stormed the area at prayer time and opened fire on the police station," Kano resident Kabiru Maikatako told AFP of the Sunday attacks.
The police fired back and a shootout ensued, he added.
"I am now trapped in my (timber) shed. It is shooting all around and the whole area has been deserted. Only the police and the attackers are shooting at each other."
Kano state police commissioner Ibrahim Idriss confirmed the attack.
"I am aware of the attack on the Naibawa police station," he said referring to a district in Kano. "I am yet to get details."
In leaflets distributed around Kano overnight, the group warned residents that it would continue to target the city's security services, but had always tried to avoid harming civilians, a claim seen as baseless by many.
The leaflets could not be independently verified as authentic.
Sunday's shootout took place in the Naibawa motor park, a major bus terminal on the outskirts the city, not far from where a German engineer was kidnapped by gunmen on Thursday.
"We were saying our evening prayers when shooting broke out around the police station," said local resident Sule Adamu.
"We all dispersed without finishing our prayer and moved indoors while passengers who had left the motor park scampered for safety," he added.
Earlier Sunday, security forces had deployed heavily around Kano guarding churches and frisking worshippers as they arrived to pray.
Some city residents told AFP they had decided to avoid church fearing that Boko Haram would deliver on its threat to carry out fresh attacks.
Abbas Saleh, a taxi driver said he was preparing for evening prayers "when gunshots filled the air with gunmen attacking the police station and shouting Allahu Akbar."
"I abandoned what I was doing and hurried into a nearby shop," he said. "I don't know whether anybody has been killed or injured."
The Islamist group, whose name means "Western Education Is a Sin," is blamed for the deaths of more than 900 people in roughly 160 separate attacks since July 2009.
It has claimed attacks that have killed more than 200 people since the start of this year.
In the leaflet distributed overnight, Boko Haram warned Kano urged residents to "persevere" as it fights "for the entrenchment of an Islamic system."
Some claim the group is increasingly tied to foreign like-minded organisations such as Al-Qaeda, while others say it is pursuing a narrowly domestic agenda and driven by deep-seated religious tensions in Nigeria.
The country is roughly divided between a Christian-majority south and mainly Muslim north and most people live on less than two dollars a day.
As Boko Haram's attacks have escalated its objectives remain largely unnknown.
Heavily criticised over his failure to stem the worsening violence, President Goodluck Jonathan urged the group to enter dialogue in a media interview this week.
But Jonathan's call for talks was "not sincere," purported Boko Haram spokesman Abul Qaqa told journalists by telephone in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, regarded as the group's stronghold.
The group launched an uprising in 2009 that was put down by a brutal military assault.
It fell dormant for about a year before re-emerging in 2010 and is now believed to have a number of different factions, including a hardcore Islamist cell.
The attack followed the January 20 assault by the Islamist group Boko Haram that killed at least 185 people in Nigeria's second city -- and after a string of recent threats of more violence from the group.
Boko Haram's intensifying insurgency, which security forces have struggled to contain, has shaken Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer, mainly in the Muslim-dominated north where the attacks have been focused.
"A large number of gunmen stormed the area at prayer time and opened fire on the police station," Kano resident Kabiru Maikatako told AFP of the Sunday attacks.
The police fired back and a shootout ensued, he added.
"I am now trapped in my (timber) shed. It is shooting all around and the whole area has been deserted. Only the police and the attackers are shooting at each other."
Kano state police commissioner Ibrahim Idriss confirmed the attack.
"I am aware of the attack on the Naibawa police station," he said referring to a district in Kano. "I am yet to get details."
In leaflets distributed around Kano overnight, the group warned residents that it would continue to target the city's security services, but had always tried to avoid harming civilians, a claim seen as baseless by many.
The leaflets could not be independently verified as authentic.
Sunday's shootout took place in the Naibawa motor park, a major bus terminal on the outskirts the city, not far from where a German engineer was kidnapped by gunmen on Thursday.
"We were saying our evening prayers when shooting broke out around the police station," said local resident Sule Adamu.
"We all dispersed without finishing our prayer and moved indoors while passengers who had left the motor park scampered for safety," he added.
Earlier Sunday, security forces had deployed heavily around Kano guarding churches and frisking worshippers as they arrived to pray.
Some city residents told AFP they had decided to avoid church fearing that Boko Haram would deliver on its threat to carry out fresh attacks.
Abbas Saleh, a taxi driver said he was preparing for evening prayers "when gunshots filled the air with gunmen attacking the police station and shouting Allahu Akbar."
"I abandoned what I was doing and hurried into a nearby shop," he said. "I don't know whether anybody has been killed or injured."
The Islamist group, whose name means "Western Education Is a Sin," is blamed for the deaths of more than 900 people in roughly 160 separate attacks since July 2009.
It has claimed attacks that have killed more than 200 people since the start of this year.
In the leaflet distributed overnight, Boko Haram warned Kano urged residents to "persevere" as it fights "for the entrenchment of an Islamic system."
Some claim the group is increasingly tied to foreign like-minded organisations such as Al-Qaeda, while others say it is pursuing a narrowly domestic agenda and driven by deep-seated religious tensions in Nigeria.
The country is roughly divided between a Christian-majority south and mainly Muslim north and most people live on less than two dollars a day.
As Boko Haram's attacks have escalated its objectives remain largely unnknown.
Heavily criticised over his failure to stem the worsening violence, President Goodluck Jonathan urged the group to enter dialogue in a media interview this week.
But Jonathan's call for talks was "not sincere," purported Boko Haram spokesman Abul Qaqa told journalists by telephone in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, regarded as the group's stronghold.
The group launched an uprising in 2009 that was put down by a brutal military assault.
It fell dormant for about a year before re-emerging in 2010 and is now believed to have a number of different factions, including a hardcore Islamist cell.
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