“Nicodemus” Ofori-Atta Jabs Amidu In Absentia Over Stinking Agyapa

The Minister for Finance designate, Ken Ofori-Atta has slammed former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu for his corruption assessment report on the dubious Agyapa Royalty deal, saying Amidu did a “disservice” to Ghana by releasing that report.

According to him, Mr. Amidu should not have released the report without giving him an opportunity to “discuss it”.

 “There is a bit of cynicism around the Agyapa transaction. I think that for Martin Amidu’s report on it to be put out to the public without a chance by people like me to discuss it is a disservice,” Mr Ofori-Atta told Parliament’s appointments committee on Thursday during his vetting.

Yet, in the brouhaha surrounding the dirty revelations uncovered by Martin Amidu, he accused Mr. Ofori-Atta of sneaking into his house under the cover of darkness to coerce him to tone down on the content of the report that seriously indicted the now tough-talking Ofori-Atta.

Martin Amidu accused Ken Ofori-Atta of insider dealing in the Agyapa project by using a South African company, Imara Pty to front for his personal company, Databank Financial Services to become the transaction advisor for the project. 

Martin Amidu had also revealed that President Akufo Addo himself had attempted to arm-twist him not to release the damning report, an overture that Amidu claim he completely rejected, calling President Akufo Addo the “Mother Serpent of corruption”.

After the release of the report, Mr. Amidu resigned in anger and had gone into exile after reporting that his life has come under threat for releasing the Agyapa corruption report.

Meanwhile, with the Special prosecutor out, The Akufo Addo administration has vowed to re-present the deal to the Ghanaian Parliament for approval one more time.

Ken Ofori-Atta confirmed this during his vetting, saying: “We will resubmit it to parliament. The question, in this new normal, is what we do to leverage our natural resources. I hope we all come to terms with how we will capitalize and grow our transformation.” 

Parliament on August 14th approved the controversial Agyapa Mineral Royalty Limited agreement with the government of Ghana despite a walkout by the Minority.

Two years ago, the House passed the Minerals Income Investment Fund Act 2018 which establishes the Fund to manage the equity interests of Ghana in mining companies, and receive royalties on behalf of the government.

The fund is supposed to manage and invest these royalties and revenue from equities for higher returns for the benefit of the country.

Ken Ofori-Atta consequently set up a Special Purpose Vehicle-Agyapa which was flagged for its shadiness.

First of all, it was registered in a tax haven and its private shareholders were kept a secret. 

Secondly, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) who dissected the deal, raised red flags that the Agyapa deal was set up to dupe Ghana by as much as US$1.5 billion. 

The former Attorney-General, Gloria Akufo described the deal as “unconscionable”.

Lastly, the deal which was supposed to be a public venture supervised by the Finance Minister, curiously revealed that his private company was the main transaction advisor. Additionally, the law firm of his close cousin, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko featured in the deal as the legal advisor to the deal.

The two cousins are directly related to President Akufo Addo and belong to the inner sanctum of the President’s kitchen cabinet.

Meanwhile, it is unclear whether despite all the huge scandals Ken Ofori-Atta has been fingered in, the Ghanaian Parliament will simply pass him off to assume office as the Finance Minister for another four years.

Already, series of petitions have been tabled against his nomination by private citizens who have cited several of the scandals he is allegedly involved in.