• WE STRONGLY ISSUE A DISCLAIMER AND REPUDIATE THE CLAIM BY KELVIN TAYLOR THAT OUR MODELS GL6127HK AND GDW6121HK SHOULD HAVE BEEN SOLD FOR $75,000.
Citi News has sighted documents disputing allegations of corruption and misappropriation of public funds in the procurement of some 50 Daewoo buses for the Metro Mass transit limit (MMT).
A former Security Coordinator at Metro Mass, Lawal Laah Fuseini, petitioned CHRAJ on Tuesday accusing President Akufo-Addo’s Chief of Staff, Frema Opare, Transport Minister, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, his Deputy, Titus Glover, the Managing Director of Metro Mass Transit Limited, Albert Adu Boahen and the Chief Executive of GH-Daewoo Motors Ghana Limited, Isaac Ofori Poku; of wrongdoing in the procurement process.
IN A LETTER SIGNED BY THE REGIONAL MANAGER, OVERSEAS BUSINESS DIVISION OF ZYLE DAEWOO COMMERCIAL MOTORS, T. K. KIM, THE BUS FIRM STATES CATEGORICALLY THAT THE BUSES WERE SOLD TO GH-DAEWOO MOTORS LIMITED AT $175,000 PER UNIT AND NOT $75,000 BEING ALLEGED.
Lawal Fuseini who was recently dismissed by the MMT stated in a Citi News that “I picked up some intelligence earlier this year concerning the fact that the buses that the Metro Mass Transit Limited were about to commission had some kind of fraud in it. The information has it that the contract was overbloated.”
For the buses procured, Lawal said Daewoo had initially pegged the price of each bus at $75,000 “but when we took the contract document, we realized that the amount was even 100 percent more than was quoted to be the cost of the buses.”
The final amount allegedly came up to about $175,000, which he described as “unreasonable” and eventually triggering his suspicion.
But documents sighted by Citi News dispute the claims.
In a letter signed by the Regional Manager, Overseas Business Division of Zyle Daewoo Commercial Motors, T. K. Kim, the bus firm states categorically that the buses were sold to GH-Daewoo Motors limited at $175,000 per unit and not $75,000 being alleged.
The letter said the prices as displayed on the marketing website, Alibaba is merely a sample price and only meant to tempt the customer.
Daewoo said the price as listed excludes many other considerations such as warranty condition, training parts and dealer margins.
Transport Ministry rejects allegations
In a separate document dated October 2019 and titled Report on Procurement of Fifty Units’ Intercity buses, the Transport Ministry said the procurement went through restrictive tendering and had received concurrent approval from its Board as well as the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).
The Ministry per the document said three bus firms were shortlisted for the restrictive tendering based on credibility and durability But GH-Daewoo Motors was settled after VDL Jonckheere Buses Company pulled out of the tender process while Scania West Africa Limited failed to respond to the invitation to tender.
The Ministry in these documents holds that the $175,000 per unit pricing is by far the lowest offer for bus purchase comparative to previous purchases dating back to 2014.
Below is the full statement from Zyle Daewoo
RE: Daewoo Bus Price
Many thanks for your cooperation. The attention of Zyle Daewoo Commercial Vehicle has been drawn on a social media publication to the effect that our representative in Ghana GH-Daewoo has been implicated for overpricing the cost of our bus models GL6127HK and GDW6121HK for US$175,000 each instead of $75,000 as it purportedly shown on Alibaba website. We would like to state for the followings in order to understand the situation more correctly.
We would like to point out some issues why the broadcasting has not reflected the following facts;
1. The Guilin GDW6121HK model displayed on Alibaba is just a sample price and lowest and standard price in order to tempt the customer. There is no specification fixed. It is an idea price with no adding option price.
2. There is no trade terms such as EXW, FOB, CIF etc. It has to be discussed when the actual order made. It is only EXW price.
3. There is another model such as GL6127 (please see below) the price range $75,000-$135,000 on Alibaba. It really shows there will be differences by specification and price with option.
4. Our exporting models to GH (GDW6121HK and GL6127HK) includes many Korean parts such as E/G, T/M, Clutch etc., we Zyle Daewoo HQ supplied to Gulin for assembly. Meanwhile, the Alibaba price is based on only all Chinese components.
5. There is no mention about Warranty condition, and training and PDI, parts and dealer margin for additional cost to be included.
We, Zyle Daewoo HQ state categorically that we sold the models GL6127HK and GDW6121HK to our Distributor GH DAEWOO MOTORS LTD. In Ghana at cost of US$175,000 per unit.
We strongly issue a disclaimer and repudiate the claim by Kelvin Taylor that our models GL6127HK and GDW6121HK should have been sold for $75,000.
Please check Daewoo website on Alibaba
Counting on your cooperation
T.K. Kim/Regional Manager Overseas Business Division
Credit to Source: Citinewsroom.com
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