�Harass Them�

President John Evans Atta Mills has said he is the father of the nation and all are safe under his administration, but there is an element of consternation and fear creeping into the Ghanaian business community due to real or imagined harassment from the administration. Reports that the Serious Fraud office (SFO) and the Bureau of National Investigations have received instructions to harass some major companies perceived to have been bankrollers of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are just beginning to surface. The revelations are making it piecemeal to the media. Said a source to The Mail: �At a cabinet meeting last year it was decided that probes should be made into all major companies that are suspected to be supporting the NPP� In fact the probes should make sure that they don�t get any government related contracts�. Already some companies and individuals have been invited by the Serious Fraud Office on numerous occasions to give account of their operations during the NPP administration Silver Crest, Pick and Pay both in Kumasi and one transport owner called Georgina also in Kumasi have been invited by the SFO a number of times. Other Accra-based companies have also received �invitations� from the BNI. For Pick and Pay and Silver Crest, said the source, �it�s been ordered that their activities be monitored carefully and no loans or contracts should be given to them from any bank�. Georgina, the transport owner was twice invited by the BNI in Kumasi, �Her case is even pitiful, she is not a contractor but they say she got contracts from the NPP�they could not provide documentary evidence when they invited her for questioning,� The Mail�s source said. Last week, the government initiated extensive investigations into the activities of Kosmos and its partners EO Groups in the oil industry in Ghana. According to the Attorney General, Mrs. Betty mould Iddrisu, the government has reason to suspect that criminal activities have taken place in the company which holds a stake in the Jubilee filed. The Mail is informed that the government is conducting the investigations on the EO group because of suspicions that the owners of the company have ties with ex-president J.A Kufuor. With all these suspicions, the government has steadfastly maintained that it is not on a witch hunt and would conduct its business without fear or favour.