[ 2012-07-10 ]

Dr Benjamin Kunbuor

Kunbuor’s “Anti-Climax”...
…Submits ‘ICC Document’ To Public Accounts
Committee (PAC) But His ‘Mystery €614m Liability
To CP’ Missing In Action!


Attorney –General and Minister of Justice, Dr.
Benjamin Kunbuor last Friday submitted a copy of
“the final award on the Government of Ghana (GOG)
and CP, Construction Pioneers Arbitration rendered
by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on
2nd October, 2006” to the Public Accounts
Committee (PAC) nearly 24 days after he had first
publicly pledged to give the PAC a copy of the
“ICC Document” which he openly ‘flagged’ and
quoted extensively from during his appearance at
the Committee’s (PAC) public sitting on Tuesday,
12th June, 2012.

Readers will recall that in our Thursday, 5th
July, 2012 edition, we reported on the protracted
failure or inability of Dr. Kunbuor to deliver on
his pledge in spite of a series of formal and
non-formal attempts by the PAC to get a copy of
the said document from him.

“On the 13th of June, 2012, I wrote to you on the
above subject. I expressed the Committee’s desire
to receive copies of the documents requested by
the close of work on Friday15th June, 2012. I
regret that the Committee has as at now not been
obliged with the benefit of the said document.
Your failure in this regard is greatly hampering
the sittings of the Committee. We ask you to
kindly make the documents available to the
Committee latest by Friday, 29th June, 2012",
wrote Albert Kan-Dapaah, Chairman of the PAC, in a
second letter to Dr. Kunbuor dated 27th June,
2012.

The PAC Chairman’s 27th June, 2012 letter
attracted a quick response from the Office of the
Attorney General and Ministry of Justice. The
Acting Chief Director of the Ministry, Suleiman
Ahmed, on behalf of the Attorney General and
Minister for Justice, informed the Chairman of the
PAC that Dr. Kunbuor had travelled out of Accra on
official duty and was expected back in office next
week.

Your above referenced letter will be brought to
his attention when he returns. Thanks, in
anticipation of your understanding and
cooperation”, articulated Suleiman Ahmed.

However, a day after The New Crusading Guide’s
story titled "Kunbuor’s mystery €614m Public
Accounts Committee (PAC) still waiting for ‘ICC
Document’ on CP Judgement debt", Dr. Kunbuor
reportedly instructed his office to deliver a copy
of the ‘ICC Document’ he had claimed contained
evidence to the effect that the totality of
Ghana’s liability to CP Construction Pioneers
before the advent of the Mills Administration and
the Betty Mould Iddrisu-led negotiations between
the Government of Ghana(GOG) and CP Construction
Pioneers, was €614m.

“…So I am saying that the total of all sorts of
things- interest and all those things that built
up, it reached €614m as at the time the settlement
had come in”, testified Dr. Kunbuor at the 12th
June, 2012 public sitting of the PAC.

“…When a matter of such a legal nature comes, the
question that any prudent person would be asking
himself as the Attorney General is that,
proceeding to settle and reduce this liability
from €613m to €94m. The test is, is it in the
interest of the State of Ghana? Kunbuor queried.

This revelation by Dr. Kunbuor obviously surprised
members of the PAC and the general public since it
was the first time Ghanaians were being told that
Ghana’s liability to CP Construction Pioneers had
reached €614m before settlement kicked in. His
revelation was in sharp contrast to Mrs. Betty
Mould Iddrisu’s public disclosure on March 12,
2012 that she had had to negotiate Ghana’s
liability to CP Construction Pioneers from €162m
to €94m.

Meanwhile, a source close to the PAC has intimated
that the ‘ICC Document’ submitted to it by Dr.
Kunbuor, interestingly and strangely does not
contain any evidence to support the testimony he
made before the PAC on 12th June, 2012.

“The document he has sent to us is the same
document we already had and it does not support
his story of €614m liability to CP Construction
Pioneers. What the Attorney- General has brought
is the Final Award of October 2, 2006 which we
already had. His €614m claim has turned out to be
a myth”, underscored a member of the PAC who spoke
to this paper on condition of strict
confidentiality.

He further disclosed that Dr. Kunbuor was yet to
provide the PAC with a copy of the legal opinion
allegedly rendered by former Attorney-General, Joe
Ghartey which he (Kunbuor) had “copiously referred
to” during his testimony to the PAC on 12th June,
2012.

“We sincerely hope he will make a copy of that
legal opinion available to the PAC sooner than
later, and we pray that its contents will reflect
the exact attributions he had made to Joe Ghartey.
We don’t want a repeat of what has happened with
regard to the ICC’s Final Award delivered on
October 2, 2006. The integrity of both the
Attorney- General and the proceedings of the PAC
ought to be sustained and respected by all”,
quipped the PAC member.

A keen observer of PAC’s public sittings, when
told of the latest development, expressed shock
and wondered why a sitting Attorney General would
seek to provide unsustainable and unsupportable
testimony before an important Committee of
Parliament like the Public Accounts Committee(
PAC) in the full glare of publicity.

“What an anti- climax to the so-called ‘blistering
and exhilarating performance and the very high
standard’ set by an incumbent Attorney -General
before the PAC. What happened to the ‘quality
beads which do make no noise’ as published by a
section of the pro-government private media? What
an anti-climax!”, exclaimed the PAC watcher and
analyst of parliamentary proceedings.

He insisted that there was no reason why a
Minister of State should paint an exaggerated
picture to rationalise or justify any government
policy or decision.

“Why quote huge or mythical figures to rationalise
your actions or decisions when you know that
sooner or later, those gargantuan figures or
exaggerated stories will be exposed as false and
or mythical? Why?”, he lamented.


Please stay tuned ….

Source - New Crusading Guide

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