George Sipa-Adjah Yankey is a Ghanaian lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. He served as Minister

Minister of State

Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...

 for Health of Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

.

Law and finance

Yankey worked in the Ministry of Finance of Ghana and was the head of its Legal department between 1989 and 1995. He became Director of the Legal, Private Sector and Financial Institutions Department at the same ministry from 1996.

Politics

Yankey is a member of the National Democratic Congress

National Democratic Congress (Ghana)

The National Democratic Congress is a social democratic political party in Ghana, founded by Jerry John Rawlings, who was Head of State of Ghana from 1981 to 1993 and the President of Ghana from 1993 to 2001. The NDC was formed ahead of elections in 1992 and 1996 returned Jerry John Rawlings to...

. After the 2008 presidential election

Ghanaian presidential election, 2008

A presidential election was held in Ghana on 7 December 2008, at the same time as a parliamentary election. Since no candidate received more than 50% of the votes, a run-off election was held on 28 December, 2008 between the two candidates who received the most votes, Nana Akufo-Addo and John Atta...

, President

President of Ghana

The President of Ghana is the elected head of state and head of government of Ghana. Officially styled President of the Republic of Ghana and Commander-in-Chief of the Ghanaian Armed Forces. The current President of Ghana is Prof. John Atta Mills, who took office in January...

 John Atta Mills appointed him Minister for Health in his government in February 2009.

Following investigations conducted by the Serious Fraud Office of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Mabey and Johnson Limited, a supplier of steel bridging based at Twyford, Berkshire

Twyford, Berkshire

For other places of the same name, see Twyford.Twyford is a village and civil parish in the English Royal county of Berkshire. It is situated, at , in the heart of the Thames Valley on the A4 between Reading and Maidenhead, close to Henley-on-Thames and Wokingham.-History:The town's name is...

 was prosecuted in 2009. This followed the company disclosing that it had "sought to influence decision-makers in public contracts in Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

 and Ghana" between 1993 and 2001. Five Ghanaian officials, including Yankey, who was alleged to have received £15,000, were cited by the company. Yankey denied these allegations in a statement issued after Mabey and Johnson had been fined £6.6 million by the Southwark Crown Court

Southwark Crown Court

Southwark Crown Court is one of three Crown Court buildings in London SE1, along with Inner London Crown Court and Blackfriars Crown Court.Opened in 1983, the brick building is located close to the River Thames at the south of London Bridge, next to Hay's Galleria...

. Despite his denials however, Yankey resigned as Minister for Health in order to concentrate on clearing his name. His resignation was accepted by President Mills, who in addition, invited the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice

Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice is an independent organisation for the safeguarding of human rights in Ghana....

 to investigate the case.

See also

• List of Mills government ministers
• National Democratic Congress
  National Democratic Congress (Ghana)
  The National Democratic Congress is a social democratic political party in Ghana, founded by Jerry John Rawlings, who was Head of State of Ghana from 1981 to 1993 and the President of Ghana from 1993 to 2001. The NDC was formed ahead of elections in 1992 and 1996 returned Jerry John Rawlings to...