A government negotiation team led by Attorney General and Minister of Justice Godfred Yeboah Dame is in talks with Singaporean commodity trading company Trafigura to try and come to an agreement on a payment schedule for a judgment debt of $140 million that was granted to them by a London court.
After a power purchase agreement was cancelled in 2017, Trafigura was permitted to seize and sell Ghanaian property in the UK.
Already, property in London owned by the Ghana International Bank has been attached for potential auction.
Deputy Attorney General Diana Asonaba Dapaah, however, told JoyNews that all state property in the UK is safe and that her boss, the Attorney General, is keeping an eye on the matter.
We are working on it because litigation involves many moving parts, including settlement, and I think we will be able to provide you with some positive news regarding Trafigura’s outcome very soon.
“We are definitely in control of it. To assist in reaching the best possible resolution that would benefit all parties concerned, the Attorney General has travelled to the UK, she stated.
The Ministry of Finance has made some noteworthy strides toward a settlement, according to information released last week by Papa Owusu-Ankoma, Ghana’s High Commissioner to the UK and Ireland.
Despite characterizing the circumstances leading up to Trafigura’s decision as regrettable, he insisted that every effort is being made to address the matter.
“We will not get to that stage where these assets will be sold to defray the debts, because of progress made on settling.”
Former Energy Minister Dr. Kwabena Donkor asked President Akufo Addo to look into the situation while the administration negotiates a solution.
The Pru East MP claims that the justifications are insufficient and that both a parliamentary investigation and a full-fledged presidential inquiry can penalize dishonest officials and help Ghana learn from its mistakes in the future.
“The president in the cabinet is a different matter because then the president has the power since the cabinet is advisory to the president. That is the reason I am urging the president to launch an internal investigation, he stated. “I want to find out where the process went wrong and what lessons the country as a whole needs to learn at the executive level to prevent this from happening again.
He continued, “Another question at the legislative level since the executive arm of government decided to terminate; the legislature has oversight responsibility over the executive.”
