Mpiani dares Govt. & EOCO over €25m judgment debt

A former Chief of Staff and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani, has contested the finding of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the outcome of a Government-endorsed mediation process to the effect that the Kufuor administration failed to pay Waterville a substantial amount of money before exiting office and has therefore challenged the Mills Administration, the EOCO and Waterville to make public all documentations of proof of debt allegedly incurred relative to CAN 2008 Stadia Projects.

In an exclusive interview with The New Crusading GUIDE over the weekend, the former Chief of Staff who was clearly worried that the Mills-led administration had paid €25,000,000.00 to Waterville as per the EOCO report stated, “If there was any (debt) at all, Waterville would have had to claim it from the sub-contractors and not the government”.

He was therefore surprised that the EOCO in its report stated that the NPP government left some outstanding debt owed Waterville. “That is totally, totally not true”, he reiterated.

Mr. Mpiani stated further that, “If the EOCO says they had studied documents which stated that we left that debt, they should make them available together with documents from Waterville so that we can all analyze and authenticate them”

The EOCO in its report presented to President Mills a fortnight ago, stated that “Documents studied so far indicate that these contracts were also terminated and Waterville put in a claim for a total amount of €21,569,946.71 for actual work done and financial engineering. Government then paid an amount of €11,935,706.55 for unexplained reasons, failed to pay the difference of €9,634,240.16. This amount was outstanding until the change of Administration in 2009, when Waterville, taking advantage of the dispute settlement clause of its contract with the Government went for mediation and was eventually awarded an amount of €25,000,000.00 to cover its outstanding amount and accumulated interest, among others. This amount was subsequently paid in 2010”.

That payment to Waterville by the NDC government, according to Mr. Mpiani, “is a wrong payment”. He also wondered why the Government initiated a mediation process with Waterville without reference to anyone in the past administration, and challenged Government to make public the details of the mediation process which resulted in the €25m paid to Waterville.

Giving a chronology of events leading to the termination of the contract between Waterville and the Government of Ghana, Mr. Mpiani recalled that, although Waterville initially protested the termination of the contract, eventually, there was a mutual agreement between both parties.

He stated that, the inability of Waterville to execute the financial engineering aspect of the contract, essence of time as per the timetable of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) among others, led to the termination of the contract. He disclosed further that, during the negotiation, it was agreed that Waterville would be paid for some work done through “Michelleti and Consar who were both contracted by Waterville”.

“The assessment of the work done by Waterville before the termination of the process was done by a Consultant agreed upon by both of us”, he added.

Sometime after the abrogation, according to Mr. Mpaini, Waterville wrote to government complaining that some monies due them had not been paid after which an investigation was conducted into the matter. The investigation, according to him, revealed that the “the Government of Ghana did not owe Waterville and it was communicated to them and they never reverted to us”.

He explained that, since it was agreed that Waterville would be paid through Consar and Michelleti, a letter he authored was copied to all parties so that in case both companies had not paid Waterville, payments would be effected.

“It is therefore surprising how suddenly in 2009, Waterville went back to Government to make those claims, and Government too appear to have so easily acceded to their demand, and paid them €25m judgement debt. This is incredible”, he repeated.

Meanwhile, a letter in possession of The New Crusading GUIDE dated October 24, 2008 and signed by Mr. Mpiani which was addressed to Mr. Dorino Marca of Waterville, corroborate the submissions he made in the interview. The letter under reference has been published twice in this paper; first on December 20, 2011 and secondly on February 6, 2012.

The letter in part stated “AFTER A THOROUGH INVESTIGATIONS OF WATERVILLE’S CLAIM, WE HAVE CONFIRMED THAT ALL PAYMENTS DUE TO ALL CONTRACTORS ON THE THREE STADIA, OHENE DJAN, EL-WAK AND BABA YARA HAVE BEEN MADE BY OUR MINISTRY OF FINANCE TO MICHELETTI AND CONSAR. THESE PAYMENTS INCLUDED ALL SUMS DUE TO WATERVILLE”.

Mr. Mpiani further stressed that “The Ministry of Finance has confirmed that all payments due for the Rehabilitation of Ohene Djan Stadium, including payment due to Waterville, have been made to the Contractor, Micheletti…”

“The Ministry of Finance has confirmed that all payments due for the Rehabilitation of El-Wak Stadium, including payments due Waterville, have been made to the Contractor, Micheletti…The Consultant had issued certificates for all the work done by Waterville and Consar for the full price. The Ministry of Finance has confirmed that all payments due for the rehabilitation of Baba Yara Stadium, including payments due Waterville, have been made to the Contractor, Consar”, stressed Mr. Mpiani.