“Octopus Gabby” Again Pops Up In Treacherous US$1.6 Billion Aker- GNPC Crude Oil Deal

-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 some of the
said meetings were 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 100,000 were doled
out to the CSOs present as “Transportation”. It is believed that they 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”.

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.