Ghanaians jailed for rice fraud

Two former Ghanaian ministers and a senior civil servant have been sent
to prison for their part in a failed scheme to set up a rice plantation.

The Ghanaian Government was left with debts of $20m but the BBC's Kwaku
Sakyi-Addo in Accra says that very little rice was actually grown.

In October, a United States court sentenced American citizen Juliet
Cotton to 15 years in prison for fraud and money laundering in
connection with the rice scheme based in the eastern Volta region.

Judge Dixon Kwame Afreh said the three former officials had improperly
approved her $20m loan application, without consulting parliament.

Luxury cars

Former Finance Minister Kwame Peprah was sentenced to a total of four
years in prison, while ex-Agriculture Minister Ibrahim Adam and a former
finance ministry official, George Sikpah-Yankee, got two years each.

Two other officials were cleared.


Have I committed a crime if I wanted to make this country
self-sufficient in rice?
George Sikpah-Yankee
US prosecutors said that Cotton had spent the money obtained by the
Atlanta-based Quality Grain company on several luxury cars, a honeymoon
in the Caribbean, a 50-piece orchestra at her wedding and down-payment
for a house worth $1.1m.

She was ordered to repay $20m to the Ghanaian Government and $2m to a
bank.

It is not clear whether the money has been repaid.

All three Ghanaians pleaded not guilty to the charges of "causing
financial loss to the state".

Mr Sikpah-Yankee mounted his own defence with tears streaming down his
face.

"Have I committed a crime if I wanted to make this country
self-sufficient in rice?" he asked the judge.

"I do this with some sadness but I have to do what I have to do," Judge
Afreh said as he handed down the sentences.

Our correspondent says that relatives of the former officials wept
uncontrollably.

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