Forget Asepa’s noise; Bagbin requested an extra $50k while in Dubai – Daily Guide
In response to the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability’s (ASEPA) letter to the Inspector General of Police Dr George Akuffo Dampare about the recent Daily Guide reportage on Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin, Editor of the Daily Guide Newspaper Fortune Alimi says they still stand by their story.
The editor further indicated that the publication is hinged on the information of a trusted deep throat source and claimed they have evidence to back hence their insistence.
ASEPA wrote to the Inspector General of Police, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, over a recent publication in the Daily Guide Newspaper that alleged that the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, had requested an additional $50,000 spending money while on his medical trip in Dubai.
For ASEPA, such a report amounts to the publication of false and malicious publications which is punishable under Ghana’s laws.
They further petitioned that the police must fairly apply the country’s law to the editors of the Daily Guide Newspaper just as it was applied to many other persons including its[ASEPA] Executive Director.
For Fortune Alimi, the said petition was baseless and irrelevant as ASEPA did not have any facts on the contrary to challenge their reports.
He indicated the readiness of Daily Guide to honour an invitation from the police concerning the publications.
“He [Mensah Thompson] is making himself a busy-body or maybe an octopus looking for a story where there is no story. We have grounds for our story so if the Inspector General of Police wants to invite us, we are ready to honour any invitation. He [Mensah Thompson] should have his facts before he goes public,” he said on Eyewitness News on Wednesday.
Some of Daily Guide’s series of publications includes Speaker allegedly requesting $50,000 in addition to some $120,000 he had taken for his Dubai trip but parliament in a statement said the report is false and must be ignored.
Meanwhile, Fortune Alimi said although his outfit had published parliament’s rejoinder, they stand by their story.
“We stand by it. For five trips he made to Dubai, he spent $1.1 million, and the last trip he went, when he was going, our sources say he sent $120,000 and he made an additional request for $50,000. Our checks indicated that it was a transfer, not a direct amount. If ASEPA says we are lying, I don’t know where the lies are,” he stated.
