Suspected Frontier Healthcare Services owner under fire following calls for his arrest in Nigeria

General news for Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

03/03/2021

Benedict Peters, the alleged owner of Frontier Healthcare Services Limited in Ghana and the owner of Aiteo Group of Companies in Nigeria, is under fire after a civil society group dragged down the Nigerian Commission on Economic and Financial Crimes ( EFCC) in court to obtain his arrest and prosecution for allegations of corruption.

Lack of transparency regarding the controversial $ 150 COVID-19 test at Kotoka International Airport in Accra has left many potential ministers in Akufo-Addo’s second term in limbo, with five of his candidates having as much as present been reported by the nominations committee. of Parliament.

The minority in parliament continue to ask questions about who approved the contract for the test, with many travelers complaining that it is too expensive.

However, Akufo-Addo administration officials gave no information about the Frontier contract.

Frontier Healthcare Services Limited (FHSL) is involved in a suspicion of ownership as it is linked to a company incorporated in the famous offshore tax haven of Dominica, a Lesser Antilles island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea.

According to Registar-General documents, Frontier Healthcare Services Limited is owned by another Ghanaian company called Healthcare Solution Services Limited (HSSL) which was also incorporated on June 3, 2020. HSSL is also 100% owned by another company called The Peters Family Company Ltd. Dominica.

The Peters Family Company Ltd appears to be the ultimate beneficial owner of HSSL and FHSL in Ghana, which were registered barely a month apart and the latter awarded the COVID-19 testing contract to KIA despite having was incorporated only 40 days before the opening of the air borders. .

The Registrar General’s Department has no record of the ultimate beneficial owner of the chain of companies except for a chain of foreign and local directors who stand for the beneficial owners.

However, most of FHSL’s work at KIA was done by scientists from Noguchi and nurses from the Greater Accra (Ridge) Regional Hospital with “Nigerian supervisors,” GhanaWeb found out in September 2020. A senior official from the The airport which spoke to GhanaWeb at the time on condition of anonymity said, “I don’t know why we gave this contract to a foreign company. As you can see Noguchi does it all and looks at these Nigerians standing there like slave masters. My brother, where is the dynamic spirit our president always talks about. “

The directors of FHSL are: Jean-Laurent Louis (TIN = P0009487379); Samuel Bansah (NIF P0001525662). Bansah is also the secretary of the company. At the same time, the directors of HSSL are Samuel Bansah (TIN P0001525662), Jean-Laurent Louis (TIN = P0009487379) and RATKO KNEZVIC (TIN = P0009329250). The secretary of HSSL is a Chuks Chukwunwike (TIN = P0009329188).

The FHSL website on which travelers to Ghana were asked to pay the exorbitant $ 150 for COVID-19 test using a credit or debit card has copyright infringements and is managed by Nigerian-owned First Atlantic Bank, GhanaWeb surveys revealed. The domain name was purchased on August 27, 2020 for one year by an offshore company based in Panama. It expires on August 27, 2021.

Mysterious Peters Family Company Ltd., GhanaWeb investigators were confident, is owned by Nigerian billionaire businessman Benedict Peters; and the company is located on Hanover Street, Hodge’s Lane in Dominica’s capital, Roseau.

A popular Nigerian online news portal, sunnewsonline reported that Peters was charged with improper conduct between 2014 and now; which ranges from “conspiracy to fraud, tax evasion, corruption and money laundering using its Aiteo group of companies comprising Aiteo Eastern E&P Company Ltd, Aiteo Energy Limited and Aiteo Energy Resources Ltd.” .

The website reported on February 28, 2021 that the Nigerian Center for Social Justice, Fairness and Transparency (CESJET) had asked the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court to compel the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) to immediately arrest and prosecute the Nigerian. the oil and gas tycoon, Benedict Peters, who is the current chairman of the Aiteo group of companies.

“In an action rated FHC / ABJ / CS / 239/2021 and filed Friday in the Federal High Court, the plaintiff, Center for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET), declared to have written on February 15, 2021 a petition to the EFCC, urging him to reconsider the allegations of various economic crimes against Mr. Benedict Peters within seven working days with a view to getting him to book, ”reported sunnewsonline.

“The petition was aimed at satisfying the legal requirement that a specific request for the fulfillment of a legal obligation must be made to a government agency such as the EFCC before the Mandamus writ could be raised against it,” he said. explained sunnewsonline in its report.

The petitioners explained that they had decided to go to court, “for the moment with consolation that no one, whatever their position, is above the law and that there are no limits. to criminal proceedings in Nigeria ”.

AITEO is described as Nigeria’s largest indigenous oil company in terms of production. Peters’ estimated net worth is around US $ 3 billion, making him the 7th richest man in Nigeria and the 17th richest man in Africa, according to several reputable sources. When the coronavirus pandemic erupted in Nigeria, Peters donated $ 30 million to the country’s COVID-19 fund.

Peters is a somewhat controversial figure, marred by multiple allegations of corruption, criminal conspiracy, bribery, embezzlement and money laundering. He is accused of conspiring with the former Nigerian petroleum minister, Ms. Diezani Alison-Maudeke, to embezzle public funds.

While out of Nigeria in 2017, the country’s Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) declared him wanted for the crimes she claims to have committed with the infamous Ms Alison-Maudeke, wanted in Nigeria. but currently retained in the United Kingdom. where she faces corruption charges.

After Peters was declared wanted, the EFCC imposed an interim confiscation order on his multibillion-dollar property in the UK. The Nigerian Supreme Court in Abuja lifted the order and accused the EFCC of “gross inaccuracies, cover-up and misrepresentation”.

However, in 2018, a high court in Nigeria ordered Peters to be removed from the wanted list because the EFCC had not obtained a warrant before placing him on the list. After the EFCC removed his name from the list, he did not return to Nigeria but imposed himself in exile.

According to information gathered by GhanaWeb, Peters has been in voluntary exile in Ghana since 2018. He is a close ally of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and a friend of Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo.