Ken Ofori-Atta Increases Personal Wealth To GHC 5.2 billion In Three Years

Assets of the Databank Financial Services Limited, a private investment brokerage firm owned by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has “miraculously” jumped by almost 600%  in less than four years of being appointed Ghana’s Finance Minister.

Databank is now worth about US$1 billion (about GHC 5.2 billion) according to official data seen by Whatsup News.

In a clear conflict of interest situation, a substantial part of these assets had accrued to the Finance Minister when his private brokerage firm was used as transaction advisor for most of the US$ 5 billion Eurobond debt. 

As Cabinet minister, Mr. Ofori-Atta had apparently played a major  in convincing the Akufo Addo administration headed by his uncle-President Akufo Addo, to opt for these loans, the highest by any previous administration in three years.

Every Eurobond is therefore routed through Databank which serves as transaction advisor for the government where the Finance Minister calls the shots.

Understandably, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration has therefore issued more Eurobonds than all previous government administrations combined. And almost all of these bonds has Databank as a key transaction advisor.

Former President John Dramani Mahama has noted that this clear conflict of interest gives the Finance Minister a personal incentive to source for more debt for Ghana because his private company benefits directly from commissions accruing from such loans.

Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) agrees with the observation of the ex-President.  “These loans keep being ordered by the Finance Minister because he knows he will be getting a cut from it,” he said on October 24, 2020.

Meanwhile, official data shows that Databank was obviously struggling financially before Mr. Ofori-Atta was appointed Finance Minister where he caused juicy financial deals of the government to be siphoned through his company. 

As at December 2016, the entire assets that Databank was managing was valued at some GHC 826 million. By the close of 2017-Just one year after coming to power, the Finance Ministers’ private company’s assets had shot up over 266% to GHC 2.2 billion. 

As at 2020, the total asset of Databank has increased by 530% to GHC 5.2 billion in three years. Indeed, the Finance Minister recently boastfully confirmed this in an interview on Peace FM.

The disturbing revelation shows that the Finance Ministers’ claim of cleaning up the financial sector is possibly a masked culling of all his competitors in the private sector.

Since 2017, the so-called financial sector clean-up has seen some 400 financial sector operators closed down by the Akufo Addo administration under the guise of a clean-up in the industry. Over 7 major indigenous banks and over 350 non-bank financial sector operators have been closed down by the Bank of Ghana (BOG) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is headed by Rev. Ogbarmey Tetteh, a former top executive at Databank.

Some of the collapsed brokerage firms and banks could had the capacity to act as transaction advisors for those Eurobonds, experts tell Whatsup News.

“He has collapsed the businesses of all his competitors in the securities sector. The banks he has collapsed is uncountable. And he has taken over,” charged Sammy Gyamfi.

The entire grapping of state resources by the family, friends and appointees of the Akufo Addo administration has been described as “grabbing grabbing” by Nana Obiri Boahene, the Deputy General Secretary of the governing NPP.

The Finance Minister has been so complicit in this “grabbing grabbing” phenomenon that he was recently dragged to the Supreme Court over conflict of interest in the 2018 Eurobond issuance of $2.25 billion.

A group calling itself Dynamic Youth Movement of Ghana (DYMOG) had instituted the suit, saying the Finance Minister’s personal interest conflicted with the performance of his duties in overseeing the Eurobond.

The Finance Minister apparently issued the bond to Franklin Templeton, a finance group that is reportedly linked to him. 

One of the directors of the US-based investment group Trevor Trefgarne is also a director at Databank.

The plaintiff therefore sought the court to declaration that by going beyond investigations to make a pronouncement (of guilty or otherwise) for conflict of interest and contravention of the constitution.

Youth group also sought a declaration that by issuing or overseeing the issuance of the said bonds to Templeton without disclosing his relational interest with a director at Templeton, one Trevor G. Trefgarne, the Mr. Ofori-Atta had acted in contravention of Article 284 of the 1992 Constitution.

Incidentally, the Supreme Court threw out the suit in what has created an interesting precedent in Ghana governance terrain.