The Finance Minister-nominee for the Akufo-Addo-led second term government, Ken Ofori-Atta, has said that Databank pulled out of the controversial Agyapa deal due to media ‘noise.’
According to him, the bank believed in the bright vision of the deal, but did not want to be a stumbling block impeding the smooth sailing, thus its resolve to call it quits.
He told Parliament’s Appointments Committee on day two of his vetting, last Friday, upon a question by Muntaka Mubarak, the lawmaker representing the people of Asawase Constituency.
He had been asked whether he saw a letter from the bank to the effect and the purpose for such a move by the financial institution.
Though he indicated he was surprised at the move, save to say that so much controversies do not augur well for corporate entities.
He answered: “Yes, I did see a letter and I was quite quizzical. Actually, I think with corporate, at a point these noises do not help. And I believe that they thought if their presence was going to be inimical to the realisation of this vision, which they believe in then it’s better to step out to that noise.”
He continued that: “I’m sure you [Mubarak Mohammed Muntaka] have Databank’s letter and, therefore, reasons ascribed to that are clear. And I think one of those was that they were not going to be standing in the way of a deal which they thought was good for the republic.
“And if their exit would enable the transaction to go on, then they’d rather do that.”
However, in his usual all-white apparel, Ken Ofori-Atta thought as a nation it should be that companies that are competent to present her to the capital market must be given the opportunity.
Following the public brouhaha on the deal that it had been shrouded in secrecy to benefit a selected few; with some even describing it as a milking cow, the President suspended it for further consultation.
Damning the goodies therein for the state which was set to receive and manage its mineral royalties, the opposition party would rather it was not discussed.
Their reason included the deal was associated with Data Bank, the transaction advisor, which is linked to then Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, and Africa Legal Associates, the Legal Advisor, traced to Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, both related to the President.
Mr Ofori-Atta, responding to issues of conflict of interest said that the firm had been working with governments of both major political parties over the years and was not just brought in under the current administration.
Though he is not actively involved in the day-to-day administration of the 3-decade old financial institution, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta told the committee he still has shares in it.
Meanwhile, in his maiden address on the state of the nation for his second term, President Akufo-Addo informed Parliament the government would submit to the House the measures it intends to take on the future of the Agyapa deal.
In a related development, the Finance Minister-nominee, Ken Ofori-Atta explained at his vetting that the re-submission of the deal would address all the concerns of the relevant stakeholders and receive input from the Legislative House.
He observed: “Imagine we have this royalty company, which in 20 to 30 years becomes a $30 billion company, which we will have 50 per cent stake…imagine putting this balance sheet to the Bank of Ghana, you literally have a reserve currency that changes your economy.
“As we look at the new normal in which there seems to be quite a bit of debt by all countries, what do we do to our natural resources to leverage it into equity?”
“Philosophically, I hope we are all going to come to terms with the reality of diversifying and how we capitalise and fund our nation as we intend to do,” Mr Ofori-Atta emphasised.
The Agyapa Royalties Limited was supposed to receive and manage royalties from 16 gold mining leases over the next 15 years.
It was to trade shares on the Ghana Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange with the Mineral Income Investment Fund, remaining the majority shareholder.
The Company was expected to secure close to $1 billion for four key areas, namely, education, health, primary capital, and infrastructural development.
In other news, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta debunked rumors the government had planned to sell the National Lotteries Authority (NLA) to KGL Technology Limited, a licensed online lotto marketing company.
He had been asked by the committee, whether or not he was aware that KGL had taken over the operations of NLA by raising funds to pay off the indebtedness of NLA
But, Ken Ofori-Atta retorted that there was no policy to sell the NLA to KGL. On the contrary, he opined that instead of selling NLA, the Ministry was deliberating on methods to improve the bond between the betting business and National lotteries.
“We actually Mr Chairman, have also looked at the betting business to really see how between betting and National lotteries we can do a lot better than we are doing,” he said during his vetting.
He added that the two entities “potentially co-form the basis for supporting our sports and culture and we need to completely overhaul another way in which NLA and betting operate and so we expect to see some major changes so that we can reap through productivity from these two areas.”
The post Why Databank pulled out of Agyapa deal appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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