-Joy FM Reporter, Evans Mensah Waltz Along As Lackey.
Just as he was featured prominently in the fraudulent Power Distribution Services (PDS) deal, President Akufo Addo’s close cousin, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko is also featuring in the current contentious attempt by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to fork out a staggering US$ 1.6 Billion to Norwegian Aker Energy.
The deal which will reportedly give Ghana some 37% interest in the Deep Water Tano Cape Three Points (DWT/CTP) and a 70% stake in the South Deepwater Tano (SDWT) operated by Aker Energy and its Partners is believed to be a massive payout to the “family and friends” of the Jubilee House.
The same players as the PDS and Agyapa Royalty deal and the characteristic pattern has reinforced widely held speculations among industry watchers that the “kingpins” are once more attempting the biggest heist of state resources in the country’s history.
Several civil society organizations (CSOs) have raised serious red flags around the deal and apparently, in a bid to shut them up from further poking holes into the questionable deal, some horse-trading is reportedly ongoing between Aker and some vocal CSOs as well as some parliamentarians, Whatsup News has gathered.
Recently, the Deputy Chief Executive of GNPC, Joseph Dadzie and the Country Director of Aker Energy, Kadija Amoah met some CSOs to allegedly make a presentation to them about the contentious deal.
Interestingly, Whatsup News is reliably informed by inside sources that the said meeting was convened at the plush office of Mr. Asare Otchere-Darko and that go-between the meeting was Evans Mensah, a prominent presenter and TV anchor for the Multimedia Group’s Joy News.
In the said meeting, amounts ranging from GHC 10,000 to GHC 30,000 were reportedly doled out to the CSOs present as “Transportation”. It is believed that some of the CSOs were promised even heftier sums if they hush their rambling about the deal.
Some of the named CSOs confirmed to Whatsup News via telephone that there was indeed a presentation to them by Aker Energy and the meeting was sealed with some “envelops” but they did not believe it was to induce them towards a certain end.
When Evans Mensah was contacted via telephone by investigators of Whatsup News in Ghana and in Europe to clear the air on the nibbling allegation of bribery by Aker Energy, Mr. Mensah, the self-styled media liaison for Aker Energy completely ignored the inquest.
In two separate messages sent to Mr. Mensah after refusing to pick his calls, Whatsup News asked him to confirms if plays any role in Aker Energy’s liaison with the CSO.
We also asked him, to clarify if he led the CSOs to the office of Mr. Otchere-Darko. Whatsup News posed the following questions to Mr. Mensah, but he refused to respond, even after a call was placed through to him after the message: “…You were part of AKER’s outreach to a couple of CSOs recently, right? Were [you] present at Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko’s office when AKER’s reps met with some CSO?”
Aker Energy is also reported to have doled out huge sums to some Ghanaian Parliamentarians to look the other way and pass the deal that is currently on their tables.
The combination of the reports of alleged bribery by AKER and the popping up of the Mr. Otchere-Darko name has heightened suspicions that once more, the current US$ 1.6 billion deal is being cooked within the same circles of President Akufo Addo’s close relatives who featured in the PDS deal that saw Ghana being virtually duped out of a US$500 million Millennium Challenge Account Compact with the United States government to revamp the ailing Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
In the PDS deal, Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister who is incidentally a nephew of President Akufo Addo, supplanted the companies with questionable backgrounds into the deal, using President Akufo Addo’s lawyer, Akoto Ampaw as correspondence.
Just like the PDS deal, the GNPC suspiciously seeking to sink in some US$1.3 billion of the US$ 1.6 billion into buying back the stated stake in the Deep Water Tano/Cape Three Points asset SDWT, despite the fact that GNPC through its exploration subsidiary previously held over 43% in the oil blocks and had been forced by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and then Energy Minister, John Peter Amewu to sell it off cheaply to Aker Energy.
GNPC’s stake in the oil blocs was dubiously reduced to 18% following a convoluted renegotiation of that contract with Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta playing a major role in it.
Around 2019, the Akufo Addo administration caused a serious uproar among industry players and civil society groups by pushing Parliament to renegotiate a 2013 Petroleum agreement between Ghana and AGM Petroleum/Aker Energy Petroleum resulting in the decline of GNPC’s stake 43 percent to 18 percent in the SDWT.
Furthermore, when GNPC’s stakes were reduced in the oil bloc through the questionable renegotiation activated by Ofori-Atta, a new local company, Quad Energy, suddenly surfaced to acquire 5% of the contentious oil bloc.
Quad Energy had been formed less than a month before the renegotiated contract was activated. The company had absolutely no track record, and there was no proof why they deserved a 5% stake in the oil field.
A little digging by Whatsup News revealed that Quad Energy. Quad is owned by Joseph Babatunde Ampah and his Uncle David Adomako, who Whatsup News reliably gathered was smuggled onto the AKER board by Mr. Ofori-Atta himself.
As for Mr. Babatunde Ampah, is a close family friend of President Akufo Addo and Ken Ofori-Atta. He also worked as the Vice President in charge of Investment in Ken Ofori-Atta’s company, Databank Financial Services.
