The Attorney General (AG) and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, says the initial address of the company at the center of the recent judgment debt saga was the Office of a deputy Attorney General.
Mr Yeboah Dame did not mention the name of the said deputy Attorney General and under which government the person served in that office.
Checks by The Chronicle, however, revealed that the office was located at 1 Airport Square Building, 7th Floor, Accra.
His allegation comes at a time when there is public outcry over the $170 million judgement debt a United Kingdom court had awarded Ghana Power Generation Company (GPCG). The judgement was against the Government of Ghana for terminating a power purchase agreement it entered into with the company.
Speaking to Asempa FM, an Accra-based radio station yesterday, the Attorney General, who indicated that the contract was not necessary, also added that the conduct of some people must be investigated.
“…And I also have information showing that the first address of the company was actually the office address of a Deputy Attorney General. It is a matter of record as well,” he asserted.
According to him, the matter would be probed, especially when there is financial loss to the state, “which translates into a criminal liability.”
“First of all, it is not as if we are targeting one person; if the CID is investigating, it will investigate all sectors – the execution of the agreement, the terms and all that. Of course, one question that the CID cannot ignore is who signed the agreement. Another question will be the factors accounting for the execution of the agreement. Thirdly, was it economical? CID investigation may even involve people you did not suspect,” he said yesterday.
Meanwhile, as part of the government’s strategies, Mr Yeboah Dame said that negotiations were still ongoing with the company to beat down the cost.
However, the Attorney General, who has come under attack for sleeping on the case, has debunked the claim. He argued that they contested the matter and there was a full trial, during which the Government of Ghana called witnesses.
He stated that due to the covid pandemic, the trial was held online, and some officials of the Presidency and the Energy Ministry were present to witness the argument being made. The Minister held that some condition precedents were not met, though the agreement which was signed in 2015 gave a month’s ultimatum for those condition precedents.
Recalling his argument during the trial, he said in the interview: “I made the argument that the implication of this agreement is that, if we sign the agreement today and we have to take to Parliament before it becomes effective, and you want to terminate, the other party who have not had disagreement can still claim all the sums that have been given to the company, based on this clause 2(A&B).”
He indicated that the government’s defense relied on clause 1 of the agreement, which said that failure to meet the conditions precedents, the contract could be terminated, but the arbitration settled on clause 2(A&B), which is repeated in clause 25, to say the government still needed to pay.
On the same show yesterday, the then Deputy Power Minister, under whose tenure the agreement was signed, John Jinapor, expressed reservations over the allegation by the Attorney General, Godfred Dame. He described as unfair the statement that the first address of GPCG was that of a deputy Attorney General.
His worry was that the Minister did not specify which deputy AG it was, leaving doubts in the minds of the general public. He challenged the said committee which reviewed the agreement and recommended the termination, saying no such committee was set up under his tenure.
General News
Dame links $170m judgement Coy address a deputy AG’s office
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