J.J. DESCENDS ON LORD COMMEY’S EMPIRE

…Jaguars, Pajeros, Buildings, Spot & Renovated Houses involved

It is now confirmed that former President Rawlings is playing a key proxy role within the security detail of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of President John Evans Atta Mills.

Credible information chanced upon by TODAY, indicates that the former President has detailed security operatives of his office to help in the investigation of some officials of the former New Patriotic Party (NPP) government over acts of impropriety levelled against them by the Mills’ administration.

The latest NPP official on the Rawlings radar is NPP National Organizer, Mr. Lord Commey, who, credible information suggests, has within the past year amassed a lot of wealth, thus raising serious questions about how he managed to acquire those properties and how he funded them.

The properties, according to credible information from the office of the former President, include two Jaguar Salon Cars, a $100,000 Pajero Four Wheel Drive, six buildings in Accra, Timberland (a popular drinking spot in Dansoman which is now named “The Faculty” and which is rumoured to have been bought for GH¢ 3.5m), the renovation of his (Lord Commey) mother’s home, situated at Sakumono, a suburb of Accra.

But in an interview, the NPP National Organizer denied acquiring the properties in question. “I don’t have jaguars, I don’t have houses and a Pajero”, adding that “If your information is coming from the National Security, then you have to check them”.

An aide to the ex-President, Kofi Adams, sheepishly and cheekily retorted: “If the office of the former President is investigating Lord Commey, what has that got to do with me?” and hanged up when the paper’s news editor enquired from him his comments on the issue.

Members of a special security detail working with the former President, TODAY’s sorties have uncovered, are currently on the prowl, investigating and asking questions relating to the Lord Commey empire.

The special security detail, TODAY’s information has confirmed, are all members of the defunct 64 Battalion Unit of the Ghana Armed Forces. It was disbanded and regularized as part of the Ghana Armed Forces by the Kufuor administration.

However, some aggrieved officers who were against Kufuor’s directive resigned and had since 2001 lived in exile in some West African countries and only returned after the return of the NDC into power. Most of them had been employed into the Security apparatus with others, generally perceived as Rawlings loyalists, finding their way into the office of the former President.

The Rawlings move, the paper discovered, has the tacit approval from the presidency. The President, TODAY discovered, acquiesced to pressure within government that the former President should play complementary role in security matters because of his vast experience in matters of governance.

“It’s part of a strategic routine arrangement put in place by the Mills administration to tap the rich expertise of the former President in matters as delicate as establishing a prima-facie against illegal acquisition by former government officials,” a source to the office of former President Rawlings told TODAY.

The paper discovered from the source about how the President has become the de-facto head of the National Security where heads of the Security apparatus like Brigadier Nunoo-Mensah and Col. Gbevlo Lartey had been conferring with the former President every week at the official Ridge residence of Mr. Rawlings.

The outcome of one of such meetings resulted in the release of Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, the former Chief of Staff from the grip of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).

After assessing the popular uproar against the Mpiani detention, the former President, Brigadier Nunoo-Mensah, the National Security Adviser, Gustav Adade, a security veteran and the National Security Co-ordinator, Col. Larry Gbevlo Lartey Adviser, the convenors of the meeting, ordered the release of the former Chief of Staff.

SOurce: TODAY Newspaper