SSNIT OBS scandal: the state will amend the charges against Ernest Thompson, 4 others

State Amends Charges Against Former SSNIT (SSNIT) Director-General Ernest Thompson and Four Others Charged with Willfully Causing Financial Losses to the State in Operation Operating Business Suite (OBS contract).

Thompson and his four accomplices are said to have caused a loss of more than $ 66 million in an OBS contract, which aimed to provide a state-of-the-art pension administration system in the country.

They all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On March 17, the Supreme Court ruled that the charges against Mr. Thompson and four others by the state were inappropriate and did not meet constitutional requirements.

Ms. Yvonne Attokorah Obuobisah, the Director of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (DPP), said the state obtained the Supreme Court ruling on March 24.

According to the DPP, “We have watched it and we are in the process of changing the charges related to the financial loss of the state. If we can have two weeks, we can file the amended fee. “

Mr. Samuel Cudjoe, Thompson’s attorney, said he had just received the Supreme Court ruling and prayed that they would have enough time to consider the new charges.

The case was adjourned until April 22.

The other accused are John Hagan Mensah, Manager of Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure at SSNIT and later Project Manager of the Operational Business Suite (OBS); Juliet Hassana Kramer, Managing Director of Perfect Business System (PBS) and Silverlake Structured Service Limited; Caleb Kwaku Afaglo, former Director General of Management Information Systems (MIS) at SSNIT; and Peter Hayibor, SSNIT counsel.

The five had previously been charged with 29 counts of conspiracy, willfully causing financial loss to the state and a breach of public procurement law.

Afaglo was further charged with fraud by false pretenses, possession of false documents and tampering with false documents.

They were admitted on bail by the court.

The facts are that in June 2010, SSNIT developed an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) strategic plan to reflect current changes in its business processes and conform to new trends in the IT industry. TIC.

The prosecution said the plan contemplates the development and implementation of new software solutions under the name of Operational Business Suite (OBS) to provide a state-of-the-art pension administration system on a key basis. in hand for SSNIT.

He said SSNIT announced an international media tender for the development and implementation of the project.

According to the prosecution, although an entity described as Perfect Business Systems Limited (PBS) did not participate in the tender in November 2012, the contract was awarded jointly to Silverlake, a Malaysian IT solutions provider. and to PBS allegedly as a consortium for a contractual amount. of $ 34,011,914, including 14 percent provident fund and 17.5 percent value added tax.

The prosecution said the goal of the project was to automate all basic processes of implementation and integrate all internal systems, as well as external stakeholders of SSNIT.

He said the contract, which covered SSNIT’s head office and branches, totaling 55 locations, was to be completed within 18 months.

“The project included the supply and installation of hardware and software development, data conversion and migration, as well as system integration of all components and maintenance support.”

Contrary to the terms of the contract, the attorney general said that Thompson, Juliet and Afaglo made PBS pay by SSNIT for items that were already covered by the contract sum, thus “inflating” the contract from $ 34,011,914 to 66 $ 783,148 as a result of which has been referred to variously as “change requests” and “variations”.

The prosecution further said that the so-called modification or change of order was carried out at the request of Thompson, Mensah, Juliet and Afaglo.

She said Thompson authorized certain payments that were above her CEO threshold and contrary to government procurement law.

The prosecution said that on January 15, 2016, SSNIT entered into a service level agreement (SLA) with the so-called consortium (PBS / Silverlake), represented by Juliet, for an amount of $ 2,570,967 per year for maintenance. and warranty for three years.

The prosecution said that although the maintenance and warranty agreement was executed in 2016, payment started from September 2014, although no service had been rendered at that time.

The payments were made contrary to the terms of the OBS contract and the advice of the head of company law against payment, resulting in an unearned payment of $ 5,141,905.66 by SSNIT to the “ Consortium ” via Mensah.

The prosecution said Hayibor witnessed Thompson signing into the SLA.

According to the lawsuit, investigations established that the OBS system was not working as expected, but Thompson authorized the various payments, resulting in the loss of those amounts.

The prosecution said further investigations also revealed that Juliet represented a non-existent PBS company, adding that she did not have the capacity to represent Silverlake.

In Afaglo’s case, the prosecution said that by applying for a job at SSNIT, he submitted and relied on certificates and diplomas that he did not have.

“On the basis of these false certificates, he obtained a job at SSNIT as Managing Director of MIS on October 1, 2015.”

The prosecution said Afaglo’s certificates which it said were obtained from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Cincinnati were not genuine.