Supposed $45 Million Judgement Debacle: Leave Mona Quartey, SIMNET Alone

In what seem to be a wondering thought for contributors of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), on whether the GH�30 million already paid by a court order to SIMNET has actually been reported to SSNIT, an interested party has called for the probe of Brigadier General Ahiaglo and his cohorts at the National Lottery authority. According to Eugene Asamoah, in a rejoinder to all media houses, the Deputy Minister of Finance who has been bastardized in the news lately on this issue must be left alone for investigations to be launched into the activities of the NLA Boss, Brigadier General Ahiaglo one cyclist at the NLA. These problems all started under the headship of Brigadier General Martin Ahaiglo who has failed to respect and honour its obligations owed to a hard working sub-contracting company that seeks to fatten the public purse as SIMNET is a subsidiary of SSNIT. According to Eugene, it all started the first week of October, 2012, when SIMNET was rendered unable to continue its work of Point of Sale (POS) Terminal lottery management and the contract was later awarded to Lots Services Ghana Limited a company allegedly owned by one of the ex chairman of a committee at the lottery agency. Notwithstanding the fact the NLA raised fault with SIMNET for not having a sufficient number of its own POS Terminals to run and administer the lottery services that it was contracted for Martin Ahiaglo passed on its contract to Lots Services Ghana Limited for Lots Services Ghana Limited to carry out, despite the fact that at the time, Lots Services Ghana Limited barely three months old since its corporation, and did not have a single POS Terminal machine of its own, the paper gathered. The NLA, insiders say, after awarding the contract to Lots Services subsequently purchased 500 POS Terminal Machines for the company and the maintenance cost is still shielded, allegedly by the NLA. �SIMNET however finds it strange that the Hon. Deputy Minister was said to have somehow engaged in some dubious attempt to proceed against NLA in respect of a dubious breach of contract claim in the previous story published by the media�, Eugene said. It is also to be noted that SIMNET is not the only company that has resorted to legal action against the Ahiaglo led NLA but another company Merlin Gaming Ghana Limited also sued the NLA and Ahaiglo as first and second defendants respectively for allegedly wrongly terminating their contract. �The experience of Merlin Gaming Ghana Limited at the hands of the Martin Ahiaglo-led NLA is not dissimilar from that of SIMNET�s. On 6th December 2011, Merlin won a contract to render SMS betting and online Gaming services to the NLA. Almost like clockwork, the contract of Merlin was suspended and then terminated by the NLA acting under the hand of Martin Ahiaglo even after the company had creditably passed an audit check initiated by the Director-General, and paid its last cheque of an amount in excess of GH�600, 000.00 to the NLA for work done for the Government purse at the time,� Eugene stated in his release yesterday.