Agyapa Accord: Deputy Finance Minister ‘hinders Corruption Risk Assessment

General news for Friday, October 9, 2020

Source: FM class

2020-10-09

Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has accused the Finance Ministry, specifically Deputy Minister Charles Adu Boahen, of delaying the OSP’s corruption risk assessment that is being carried out in the controversial Agyapa deal.

In an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, Mr. Amidu said: “We wanted you to give us all payments made through approved banking channels to show us how much has been invested in the transaction so that once and for all we can make an assessment based on the amount of money paid. “

However, Amidu said that Adu Boahen has been delaying the process.

“That is why we say [Adu Boahen]: ‘Give us the evidence of the amount you have paid [that] it is not substantial. I have not received a response and that is all that is contained in the evaluation report, ”said Mr. Amidu.

“The appraisal report withholding is not from this office because we intended for it to come out at the end of September,” he revealed.

“The obstacles” and “delays,” said the anti-corruption activist, “have come from the Ministry of Finance, in particular the Vice Minister of Finance, Adu Boahen.”

“He is the one who has stopped us and, unfortunately, we are in October, which is not what we wanted,” he said.

The government of Ghana, a few days ago, froze the launch of the Agyapa Royalties Initial Public Offering (IPO) pending a corruption risk assessment to be completed.

A letter signed by Mr. Adu Boahen, and addressed to the OSP, read: “The Ministry does not intend to proceed with the IPO prior to the results of its Office’s corruption risk assessment.”

The ministry said: “The international investor community has been closely monitoring the outcome of the current status of the transaction and therefore it would be detrimental to proceed without receiving the necessary approvals and the green light from your Office,” he said.

“In addition, we will be required to fully disclose in the transaction prospectus, the result of any investigation by your office prior to approval by the respective regulators of the Ghana and UK stock exchanges,” the letter to the OSP.

The letter said the ministry is always ready to “provide more information or clarification” to the OSP on the deal.

According to Mr. Amidu, the ball is now in the court of the Ministry of Finance, as far as the progress of the evaluation is concerned, noting, “That’s why they have to accelerate our application so that we have this done.

He indicated that: “It is not in our interest [to keep it on hold]”.

“We are not doing an investigation. We are not a commission of inquiry. We are not processing. We are only conducting our prevention and anti-corruption risk assessment.

“It is both for prevention and for corruption. That’s what we’re doing.

“It has consequences, of course, because it shows whether the transaction lowers or raises the bar.

“If you lower the bar and therefore it is an incentive for corruption, of course there is something wrong with it. If it raises the bar and therefore discourages you from being corrupt, it is something else. And we are examining the processes from the selection of the books to the parliamentary approval, “he explained.

“It all depends on the Ministry of Finance,” noted Mr. Amidu, revealing that: “The last time I sent you a reminder was on October 7” and “well, nothing has arrived.”

The Ministry suspended the launch of the IPO following a letter that Amidu wrote to them in this regard.

The Parliament, a few weeks ago, in line with the Mineral Income Investment Fund (MIIF) Law, 2018 (Law 978), approved agreements that allow the country to obtain the maximum value of its mineral resources and monetize its mineral income earned to the country in a sustainable and responsible way.

The move gives Agyapa Royalties Limited the right to raise around $ 1 billion to allow the government to finance large infrastructure projects.

Mr. Amidu, in a letter to the ministry, said that there were some outstanding documents that the Ministry of Finance had not provided him in relation to the IPO, although some other documents had been provided upon request.

“This Office would have liked to complete its corruption risk assessment in the Agyapa Royalty Transaction as soon as possible had it not been for the non-presentation of the information and documents pending submission by your Ministry.

“The information and documents that you provided related primarily to the processes and appointment of the Transaction Advisors, which goes to the root of any assessment of the risk of corruption,” it is said in parts of the letter.

He continued: “Information and documents related to the identification and recommendation of the transaction advisers to your Ministry for the appointment of a list of other service providers and / or subscribers that may be necessary to complete the transaction as provided in clause 2.2 .1 of the mandate agreement among others, which are fundamental to any corruption risk assessment are also outstanding.

“Legal opinions, particularly from the government’s main legal counsel under the Constitution, are relevant to ensure compliance with its recommendations as part of any corruption risk assessment.”

“Given the circumstances,” the letter noted, “this Office would like to urge you to adhere to the results of the corruption risk assessment you are conducting on the transaction before proceeding to the launch of the IPO transaction.

“This Office makes this suggestion out of prudence on its part and so as not to give the impression that this Office’s mandate on the prevention of corruption has no implications for the transaction.”

The Parliament of Ghana was asked to provide Mr. Amidu with all documents covering the agreement as of Monday, September 14, 2020.

This followed an official request made by Mr. Amidu to the legislator in this regard.

The request was in accordance with Articles 2 (1) (c), 29 and 73 of the Law of the Special Prosecutor’s Office of 2017 (Law 959) and Regulation 31 (1) and (2) of the Special Prosecutor’s Office (Operations) Regulation , 2018 (LI 2374), which obliges the office to exercise the functions and powers of prevention of corrupt activities.

Parts of PASB’s official request read: “This office will focus on any potential of such transactions to promote and facilitate the alleged commission of corruption and corruption-related crimes and advise the government accordingly.”

The deal, aimed at monetizing Ghana’s gold royalties, has generated much controversy since it was approved by Parliament.

Amid the controversy surrounding the deal, the Alliance of CSOs working on extraction, anti-corruption and good governance called for the suspension of the deal pending further dialogue on some critical issues related to the mineral royalty monetization deal.

In a press conference on Tuesday, September 8, 2020, Coalition spokesman Dr. Steve Manteaw said: “The provision of Section 28 (5) of the Mineral Income Investment Fund Act seeks to declassify royalties as taxes and converting them into stream income for MIIF and by extension, Agyapa. Exempting Agyapa from taxes does not only exempt the government, but also investors.

“This is the main reason why the government should not exempt Agyapa from taxes and not doing so only benefits investors.

“When considering Agyapa, what about the promise in the government manifesto to increase the share of royalties to communities affected by mining?” He pointed out to reporters.

According to him, “in the 2016 government manifesto, it said that: ‘With regard to mineral royalties, the policy of the nuclear power plant is to ensure that mining communities receive a greater share of royalties. Currently, 80 percent of royalties go to the government, 10 percent to the Minerals Commission, and 10 percent to the community. The NPP will reduce government participation to 70 percent while doubling community participation to 20 percent. The additional 10 percent to the community would go to the district assembly, to be used specifically to develop infrastructure in the mining community. ‘

“How the government is responding to this promise is not in its effort through MIIF and the related Agyapa transaction,” Dr. Manteaw asked.

He noted that: “These are important issues that require a national conversation to be addressed.”

“It is not enough for the finance minister or the government to ask citizens to trust their sincerity and expertise.

“It will not be right for them to try to demolish a controversial transaction like this one about which experts and ordinary Ghanaians have raised genuine questions.

“We therefore reiterate our call to the government to suspend the implementation of this transaction pending dialogue on the options available to optimize Ghana’s mineral royalties,” he demanded.

In addition, the opposition Democratic National Congress accused the government of mortgaging the country’s mineral resources through the deal.

NDC standard-bearer John Mahama, for example, has said the architects of the Agyapa royalty deal are cronies of President Nana Akufo-Addo and has hinted at canceling the deal if he wins the December 7, 2020 election.

“If I become president, I will not accept that deal,” he threatened.

According to him, “the people of Ghana do not accept this treatment” as, in their opinion, “it goes against the money laundering rules”.

“If you look at the people who put this together, they are people close to the president and they have already been paid two million dollars,” said the standard-bearer of the Democratic National Congress.

“This president and his family believe they can do anything and get away with it,” said Mahama.

Furthermore, the president of the National House of Chiefs, Togbe Afede XIV, recently said that he does not see why the Agyapa royalty deal should be kept secret.

Addressing the Volta Regional Chamber of Chiefs at whose meeting he made a strong exception to attempts to associate him personally, as well as the National Chiefs House, to the controversial mineral monetization agreement, Togbe Afede XIV said: “I In particular, I am very, very hurt by the attempt to use my name to give legitimacy to a transaction that has been widely condemned for its secrecy and for the fact that the company involved was constituted in a tax haven ”.

“I don’t see why desperation would lead someone associated with that transaction to want to use the name of the innocent Togbe Afede XIV. I have never commented on this transaction and have decided not to comment for good reasons, ”he stated.