Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng has implicated Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and former Deputy Finance Minister, Charles Adu Boahen, in a “shady” US$88,247,246.63 million judgement debt situation that transpired in 2020.
The Former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, in his recent interview with American-based pan-African publication, Africawatch, revealed receiving a letter from the Ministry of Finance in July 2020, which requested his approval for the payment of a judgement debt to Apex Pollution Control Company, which had signed an agreement with the Ministry of Environment in 2014 to carry out monitoring of vehicle emissions, but the project was not implemented at all.
“Sometime in July 2020, when I was at the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, I received a letter from the Ministry of Finance, requesting my approval for the payment of a judgment debt to the tune of US$88,247,246.63, please let me repeat it, US$88,247,246.63, to Apex Pollution Control Company. I could not believe my eyes. It had a lot of red flags.
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The Ministry of Environment had signed an agreement with the company in 2014 to carry out monitoring of vehicle emissions, but the project was not implemented at all,” he told Africawatch editor Steve Mallory.
“The company claimed it invested $6,613,520.63 in the project and sought a judgement debt,” Prof. Frimpong-Boateng explained. Yet, it wasn’t just the initial investment being claimed; an additional $20,006,226 was being sought for a return on investment, and a staggering $61,627,500 for lost income over 13 years. “This came up to a whopping $88,247,246.63,” he emphasized, expressing shock at the figures that confronted him.
“The Apex Pollution Control Company was going to get about $82 million for doing no work. So shocking!,” he is quoted to have said.
Suspecting foul play, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng took his concerns to the top. “I confronted Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta about it, and he told me Charles Adu Boahen, the then Deputy Minister for Finance, was probably behind it.” His alarm escalated when emissaries from Apex Pollution Control Company extended a US$5 million bribe to him, seeking to expedite the approval process. Standing firm in his integrity, he declined: “I rejected it and told them to disappear from my office.”
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Faced with these irregularities, the Professor claims he took a step further, writing to H.E Akufo-Addo to communicate his inability to sanction such a questionable judgement debt.
“I did not get any response,” he disclosed, referring to the silence that followed his message to the president.
According to the cardiothoracic surgeon, he was subsequently removed from the President’s second-term administration. Still, he remains undeterred and at peace, knowing he acted within the nation’s best interests.
“Whoever serves in the president’s adminis- tration is his prerogative, so one cannot talk about that. He can fire any minister any time and one must reckon with that. But I am at peace with myself, ” he added.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta , has been under serious pressure following calls for resignation, due to the abysmal performance of the NPP administration and his role in worsening the status quo.
Source: theindependentghana.com
