[ 2014-04-14 ]

Gov’t to pay GH¢197.5million judgment debt
The Attorney General & Ministry of Justice, has
confirmed the award of damages amounting to
GH¢197,491,874.00 in a case brought against the
state by Bankswitch Ghana.

Bankswitch, had filed before the Permanent Court
of Arbitration, in The Hague, the Netherlands for
the payment of GH¢853 million in damages for the
cancellation of a contract signed with the
Government of Ghana in 2007 for the management of
a platform for the revenue mobilisation programme
of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue
Authority (GRA).

The contract, according to the Attorney General
and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marieta Brew
Appiah-Oppong was signed at a time, the State
already had a contract with GCNET and a number of
Destination Inspection Companies (DICs) performing
the same functions for which Bankswitch was being
contracted to perform.

The award by the Court, following the arguments by
the Attorney General, is a reduction of about
GH¢600 million from claims filed by Bankswitch.

The Attorney General told the Daily Graphic that
despite the signing of the contract in 2007, the
company had not started operations until 2009,
following which the contract was terminated
because of the existence of the GCNET platform and
DICs with which government still had a contract.

Records from the hearings of the Court show that a
number of public servants and former government
officials were at the Court to defend Bankswitch,
against the State.

Throwing light on the issue, the Minister of
Information and Media Relations, Mr Mahama Ayariga
said he suspected that the then government
intended to phase out the GCNET and the DICs when
their contract expired and that might have
informed the decision to contract the Bankswitch.

He said, however, that the government found
nothing wrong with the performance of GCNET and
the DICs and, therefore, decided to renew their
contract.

Source - Daily Graphic

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