Outspoken Assin Central Member of Parliament (MP) in the Central Region, Hon. Kennedy Agyapong is outraged that the Finance Minister Seth Terkper went ahead and deposited $250 million being part of the $1million Eurobond funds into a private account at UBA after assuring him that he (Terkper) had shelved the idea two years ago.
Kennedy Agyapong said he had information to the effect that Mr. Seth Terkper had planned to divert the $250million into an account at UBA in 2014 and therefore raised the issue on the floor of Parliament during a deliberation on issues relating to Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC).
Mr. Terkper, according to Hon Kennedy Agyapong, became alarmed and quickly called the Managing Director (MD) of UBA one Mrs. Bawuah and told her that he (Kennedy) had drawn the attention of Parliament to it, so he will no longer go ahead with the deal.
“He (Seth Terkper) called the women and told her that I have hinted parliament about the deal so he was not going ahead with it. So I thought they stopped the deal. Not knowing they went ahead and did it.”
Speaking on Oman FM, Hon. Kennedy Agyapong revealed that Mrs. Bawuah called him personally and pleaded with him not to talk about the issue elsewhere because Finance Minister had indicated to her that he had cancelled the deal since the “controversial man” was aware about it.
“The women spoke to me and created an impression for me to believe that they have stopped the deal.”
Kennedy Agyapong, who accused Seth Terkper and Mrs. Bawuah of conspiring, to rob the country, said he is shocked that the Finance Minister could do that.
It would be recalled vice presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr. Bawumia had accused government of diverting about $250 million of the total proceeds from the nation’s $1 billion Eurobond it issued in 2015 to a private account at the United Bank of Africa (UBA).
Dr Bawumia, who was addressing students of Accra Polytechnic, noted that the fund was not yet operational.
However, the Finance Minister at a news conference on Monday to respond to Dr. Bawumia’s claims, said “government acted within the law”.
“The US$250 million seed money to the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) lodged by the Board with a Commercial Bank is safe and has already started bearing interest to the idle Fund,” Mr. Terkper said.
Hon. Kennedy Agyapong discounted Mr. Terkper’s claim that the funds had yielded interest for the state.
He claimed that gurus in the Mahama administration conspired to deposit the deposit with UBA in order to share the interest which will accrue on the funds.
Source: ghnews360
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