Ofori-Atta Evasive About Databank’s Share In Agyapa “Create Loot and Share”

Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s Finance Minister has finally been caught with his hands in the cookie jar as Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu’s corruption risk assessment on the Agyapa Minerals Royalties deal confirms Whatsup News’ series of revelations that the Finance Minister is ultimately the crafty Joe behind the opaque set up to grab Ghana’s mineral resources.

But President Akufo-Addo’s nephew is not about to go down without drama. Ken Ofori-Atta is tip-toeing around the elephant in the room – what was the booty-sharing arrangement between his company, Data Bank financial services, and Imara Corporate Finance (PTY) Limited, the company picked to front for Ofori-Atta, if the transaction went through?

The question sticks out in the corruption risk assessment report authored by Martin Amidu. Amidu used the opacity surrounding the sharing formula for the loot that Ofori-Atta and Imara were trying to create as one of the important reasons the arrangement was illegal.

In fact, the Special Prosecutor feared that the arrangement potentiates money laundering.

But in response to the issue, Ofori-Atta quickly fired a response to President Akufo-Addo in which he somehow managed to evade the question of his company, Databank’s, relationship with Imara Pty.

Consequently, as far as Ofori-Atta goes, the question as to how the two companies were going to share the US$4million that was to eventually accrue from their role in the transaction remains anybody’s guess. However Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu has said that that missing link is a part of a general shroud of shadiness around the Agyapa Minerals Royalties deal that resulted from “greed and corruption.”

Amidu completed his report in which he cited the appointment of Transaction, Imara/Data Bank as transaction advisors as resulting from rigging of a bid for advisors and submitted the findings to President Akufo-Addo two weeks ago.

The President sat on the report until Amidu angrily revealed to the public what was going on, stating that two weeks was too long a time for the report to remain in secret at the Presidency, and then proceeding to post his copy on the internet for the public.

The public would discover that, just like WhatsUp News has been reporting, Ken Ofori-Atta zealously kept the names of the transaction advisors for the Agyapa deal hidden and was only forced to own up when public outcry forced him to grant to quickly arranged a window-dressing interview on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo programme.

Ofori-Atta also intentionally usurped the powers of the Chief Director of the Ministry of Finance, a technocrat, by making the Deputy Minister of Finance, Charles Adu Boahene, a politician, to approve the hiring of Imara/Databank as transaction advisors.

In 2017, following the assumption of power by the Akufo-Addo government, the Ministry of Finance which Ofori-Atta heads, says it received unsolicited proposals from companies offering debt financing ranging from US$500Million to US$700million in exchange for part ownership of Ghana’s gold royalties. However, because of the technical nature of the proposals, the Finance Ministry decided to look for a Technical Advisor (TA).

The companies were Artemis Natural Resources Corporation of Canada, Tripple Flag Mining Finance Ltd, also of Canada, Petrodel Investors Advisors Ltd of Nevis and Natixis Global Markets Commodities Ltd of Paris, Franc.

On 6th October 2017, Deputy Finance Minister, Charles Adu Boahene wrote to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) communicating the Ministry’s desire to hire a TA to advise Ghana on how to monetize the gold royalties of the country. His letter listed four companies, Tripple Flag, Navara Capital, Stanbic Bank and Petrodel as the companies of interest

On 13th October 2017, the PPA asked again for a list of companies that the Ministry had decided to consider for the restricted tendering, along with further particulars on the companies including business certificates and tax clearance certificates, the value of service to be rendered and other pertinent documents. According to the Special Prosecutor, this was where the shadiness began.

Charles Adu Boahene wrote back two letters on the 14th of November, 2017 and submits a new list of companies altogether that suddenly included the name of Imara Corporate Finance of South Africa. Consequently, the shortlisted companies now comprise JP Morgan, Gladman Sachs, Imara Corporate finance, Citi Bank, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Rothschilds. 

The Finance Ministry would proceed to request for proposals from the shortlisted companies on the 22nd December 2017 with a shrewd precondition that the foreign companies must have local partners. The request gives the closing date for the submission of proposals as 8th January 2018, giving the foreign companies just 17 days to arrange local partners.

This is how the other companies were weeded out of the way, because unbeknownst to everybody, the Finance Minister’s company, Databank Financial Services had entered an agreement with Imara to be the South African company’s local partner.

Morgan Stanley managed to get paired with a local Ghanaian company called Boulders Advisors but as it would turn out later, Boulders is a local company close to Ofori-Atta’s Finance Ministry as it would later be appointed as one of the local private firms used for the infamous banking sector clean-up.

After the assessment, Imara with its local partner, Databank were adjudged to have presented the best proposal.

After this, recommendations were made to Jubilee House for executive approval for the Imara/Data Bank appointment as transaction advisors. Subsequently, on the 14th of August, 2020, the Transaction Document was submitted to Parliament for approval. 

However, as Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu would later find out, those recommendations had been made by one Felicia Ashley, the Director of General Administration of the Ministry of Finance, is a former employee of Data Bank that Ofori-Atta had brought to the Ministry of Finance along with him when he was appointed Minister of Finance.

Ashley is a former Corporate Vice President and Head of Human Capital and Administration at Databank. Incidentally, Ashley is also a Director of ARG Limited, the local subsidiary of Agyapa Royalty, in what was clearly a premeditated plot by the Finance Minister to capture Ghana’s mineral royalties. 

Incidentally, countless members of the ruling party are engaged in illegal mining operations across the country.