Government in 2017 terminated a contract for Eurobond bookrunners, after a two-year contract started under the John Mahama government expired.
In the process of reconstituting the bookrunners, all three previous companies were replaced through a process that lawyer Martin Kpebu has described as a ‘mafia game.’
According to him, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta put processes in place to allow a fairly new company belonging to his then deputy, Charles Adu Boahen, to be appointed despite there being more experienced industry players.
The three companies that lost their place were: Togbe Afede’s Strategic Africa Securities, SAS, Stanbic Bank and Barclays Bank.
According to him, while making submissions on Joy FM’s News File programme (August 20), when their tenure ended in 2017, Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister reconstituted this team of bookrunners “where they elbowed out Strategic Africa Securities, they elbowed them out.
“Everybody knows Togbe Afede has been in this industry for God knows how long. They were elbowed out and then GCB bank and Fidelity Bank were brought in. That is where they now also gave Black Star Line, that is Adu Boahen’s company to also trade.”
He dared the Finance Ministry to make public how Black Star Line Securities – which was founded by former deputy Finance Minister, Charles Adu Boahen, got the clearance to involve itself in the Eurobond market from 2017.
“Abu Boahen was walking here with a very small company in his armpit. Come on, we have seen him before, he was walking with the company in his armpit, it was a very small company,” he observed.
He stressed that this process was the tip of the iceberg because from his discussions with industry players, “The other things I was taken through, then I saw that this is a mafia game, complete mafia game…
“But the key thing, if anybody is doubting it, 2017, what was the profile of Black Star Line Securities – Adu Boahen, deputy Finance Minister, what was it?” he quizzed.
“So, you can’t do that as a state, with Ofori-Atta at the helm. So, when you say you don’t see conflict-of-interest…. (someone) like Pelgrave Boakye Dankwa, he had the temerity to come and give that explanation,” he charged.
Pelgrave, also a former Databank employee, is on record this week to have defended Ofori-Atta stating that the Minister was no longer directly involved with Databank as far back as 2014 and that it was unfair that he was being accused for legitimate business Databank was undertaking.
Recent critique of Ofori-Atta and Databank's alleged 'Eurobond gains'
KKD, this week became the latest critic of Ken Ofori-Atta's alleged conflict of interest position in government's Eurobond transactions.
According to him, the minister is benefiting at the expense of the country.
“I read a report yesterday that broke my heart, I saw how much Ghana owes but I also found that apparently, the minister of finance’s company or former company is a transaction advisor to the monies that we borrow. So as Ghana gets poorer, the minister of finance’s company or former company gets richer,” he stated when he appeared as a guest on GTV’s Breakfast Show programme.
Describing the situation as unacceptable, KKD accused parliament of also failing to defend the interest of the country by allowing such a practice to fester.
SARA
Lawyer Martin Kpebu