Agyapa deal will be a leaking pipe in public purse -Amidu

The Office of the Special Prosecutor says there is no guarantee that the sovereign minerals income royalties being ceded to Agyapa Royalties Limited is not and will not be a leaking pipe in the public purse.
Again, he says it cannot be guaranteed that the deal will not constitute manna from heaven for the lucky politically-affiliated Ghanaians who may have the opportunity to be managers. The office makes those arguments on the basis that the deal is without a national consensus, analysis of the risk of corruption, and anti-corruption assessment environment.
These were contained in the 67-page report on the analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption risk assessment on the famous Agyapa Royalties deal, addressed to President Akufo-Addo.
Signed by the Special Prosecutor, Martin Alamisi Barnes Kaiser Amidu, the report read in part:
“There is no guarantee that the sovereign minerals income being ceded to Agyapa Royalties Limited without a national consensus and the analysis of the risk of corruption, and anti-corruption assessment environment as herein before analysed is not and will not be a leaking pipe in the public purse.”
He continued: “There is further no guarantee that it will not constitute a windfall from this leaking public purse pipe for those Ghanaians lucky, through partisan affiliations, to be represented on its management, and who might have had stakes as promoters in establishing and incorporating in the safe haven of Jersey aforesaid.”
The Office of the Special Prosecutor has, thus, advised the government to halt its planned launch of an Initial Public Offer (IPO) regarding the Agyapa Royalties agreement. Mr Martin Amidu argues the move would allow his outfit the opportunity to conclude its ongoing corruption risk assessment.
According to the government, the new agreement is expected to enable the country to use a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Agyapa Royalties Limited, to secure about $1 billion to finance infrastructural projects.
But the OSP, in a letter to the Finance Ministry, raised concern over “the non-submission of the information and documents pending to be submitted by your Ministry.
“The information and documents you supplied concerned mainly the processes for and the appointment of the Transaction Advisors, which goes to the root of any corruption risk assessment.”
Based on these, Mr Amidu believes it would be a premature decision to go through with the launch of the IPO without clearing the fine details relating to the SPV.
“This Office wishes to urge you to abide by the results of the corruption risk assessment it is undertaking on the transaction before moving to the launching of the IPO transaction. This Office makes this suggestion on the grounds of prudence on your part, and to also not give the impression that the mandate of this Office, on prevention of corruption, is of no consequence to the transaction.”
The Minority in Parliament had demanded the withdrawal of the contract with Agyapa Mineral Royalties Limited over what it believed was an opaque attempt by the New Patriotic Party (NPP)-led administration to siphon public funds for their parochial interest.
The Special Prosecutor, in September, began a probe into the controversial Agyapa Mineral Royalties deal, and wrote officially to Parliament requesting information on the deal.
In a September 10, 2020, in a letter to the Clerk of Parliament, the Special Prosecutor said his investigation was in pursuit of the mandate of his Office to exercise the functions and powers of the prevention of corruption.
Meanwhile, responding to the 67-Page document, President Akufo-Addo directed the Finance Minister to resubmit the deal to Parliament for the approval processes to start all over again. Eugene Arhin, Director of Communications at the Presidency, indicated in a statement on Monday: President Akufo-Addo has also studied the report and the comments from the Minister for Finance. Based on the observations, the President has, accordingly, instructed the Minister that, in the interest of transparency and accountability to the Ghanaian people, the agreement supporting the transaction that were submitted to Parliament, and approved by the House, should be resubmitted to Parliament for the approval process to start all over again.”
Arhin adds: This he (President Akufo-Addo) believes will help address the concerns raised, principally, by the Minority, about having been given very limited time to subject properly the various agreements to proper scrutiny. The transaction documents to be resubmitted are the relationship agreement, the assignment, the allocation agreement, and the investment agreement.”
However, the statement concluded that the President wondered if such a debate should be taken before this year’s election, as the atmosphere is highly-charged politically.
As such, the President, according to the statement, believed that the national interest would be better served for the parliamentary proceedings on the matter to take place after the elections, or in the next Parliament.

The post Agyapa deal will be a leaking pipe in public purse -Amidu appeared first on The Chronicle Online.

Read Full Story