[ 2014-04-15 ]

Government's mitigation action on $197M Bankswitch judgment debt is belated - Dr. Akoto Osei
Former Minister of State at the finance ministry ,
Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei has questioned why
government did not initiate negotiation with IT
Firm, Bankswitch Ghana Limited, to mitigate
a-197-million dollar judgment debt awarded against
the state before going to the Permanent Court of
Arbitration in the Hague.

According to him, negotiating an already given
ruling by the Arbitration court on the issue is
not in the best interest of the state in anyway.

Dr. Akoto Osei was speaking on Joy News Monday, on
issues pertaining the state signing a contract
with Bankswitch Ghana Limited.

The former minister of state also noted that all
the Attorney Generals since 2009 failed to
contact him on the issue before advancing to the
Hague.

As the one, who endoresed the contract, Dr. Akoto
Osei stressed that minutes of deliberations from
various meetings held with GcNet, Bankswitch and
other Destination Inspection Companies (DICs) are
available for perusal.

Putting the issues on the contract straight, Dr.
Akoto Osei emphatically noted that the contract
with GcNet and other DICs has not been nullified
with the signing of the contract with Bankswitch.

He said a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was
earlier entered into by the then minister of
finance, late Kwodwo Baah-Wiredu with Bankswitch
Ghana Limited and which was later signed for the
IT firm to take over valuation of Customs to help
with revenue mobilization.

The former minister of state also denied that the
IT Firm had not commenced working on the contract
signed until 2009, noting that there are minutes
of meetings held, work done and returns to
government that had came from the committee that
sat on the issue before it was brought to him to
endorse.

He said Bankswitch Ghana Limited started working
since 2007 and was supposed to work up to about
five years before Customs fully takes over the
programme.

Additionally, the former minister of state
indicated that Late President Mills visited the
premises of Bankswitch in 2009 and commended them
before training custom officials.

However, the contract was subsequently abrogated
after series of meetings were held at the
presidency following a recommendation to
government.

Dr. Akoto Osei also explained that Bankswitch
Ghana Limited and GcNet were performing different
tasks with the former responsible for the
valuation and therefore there exist no conflict in
the work of the two companies.

He indicated that initially GcNet was worried that
Bankswitch was going to take over its work but it
was part of the committee, which GCNet is part
that brought a recommendation for the contract to
be signed with the IT Firm.

The former minister of state, whose name has come
up as one of those who testified against the state
during the trial in the Hague, denied the
allegation, saying that he never visited the Hague
to give evidence but was called by one of the
judges on the case and asked about the contract.

Dr. Akoto Osei also denied allegations that he
held shares in Bankswitch Ghana Limited.

The response from the former minister of state
followed Government's negotiations with the IT
Firm for mitigation on the 197 million dollars
judgment debt awarded against the state.

The court in The Hague, Netherlands, supported the
plaintiff in its ruling that a contract signed
with the Finance Ministry to provide services was
wrongfully abrogated.

Bankswitch Ghana Limited had requested the court
to award it 853 million cedis for the illegal
termination of a contract it signed with the
government in 2007.

The Ministry of Finance entered into an agreement
with the company for the provision of a customers'
valuation software for the Customs Division of the
Ghana Revenue Authority, to help with revenue
mobilization.

The contract was signed at a time the State also
had a contract with another firm, GCNET and a
number of DICs.

The court awarded damages amounting to 197.4
million cedis to Bankswitch Ghana.

Meanwhile, a presidential staffer, Dr. Clement
Apaak, has filed a suit at the Supreme Court,
demanding that the said contract between
Bankswitch Ghana Limited and government be
declared null and void because it lacked
parliamentary approval.

The writ is also asking the court to indemnify
government against any loss or liability arising
out of the contract.

Source - MyjoyOnline

... go Back