Agyapa deal: Data Bank involvement possible case of corruption - Vitus Azeem

Vitus Azeem, an anti-corruption campaigner has said that the observations made by the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu on how Data Bank was ‘smuggled’ into the Agyapa Royalties deal raises suspicions about possible cases of conflict of interest and corruption.

According to him, the assessment by Martin Amidu which mentions “Imara Corporate Finance Limited (the transactions advisers) as a ‘decoy’ of Data Bank gives reasons for people to suspect that the parochial interest of some persons might have been placed ahead of the country’s collective interest.

“If the Finance Minister owns a company or has shares in a company that the Finance Ministry is going to engage in a transaction, then the person at the Finance Ministry should have declared that he has an interest in the transaction and won’t be part of the process. But when they are involved as alleged by the Special Prosecutor then there is a case of conflict of interest,” he told GhanaWeb.

“If they sat down and planned and smuggled it in as being said by the Special Prosecutor then it is even more than conflict of interest. It is corruption. It means they are using their position for personal interest and that in most cases leads to corruption. There is a potential for corruption,” he concluded.

Acting on the conclusion by the Special Prosecutor, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has instructed Ken Ofori-Atta to send the deal back to Parliament for reconsideration.

Vitus Azeem, however, holds a different view on the matter. In his estimation, the deal is a fleece of the nation and it will be in the interest of the president and the country for the deal to be withdrawn.

He stated that once the Special Prosecutor identified grounds for possible cases of corruption, it is only right that the whole agreement is binned.

“I have said that the president should withdraw the whole deal from parliament if that will agree with the standing orders of parliament instead of sending it back. Because it is the same parliament that endorsed the deal in the first place. So, when you send it back what do you expect?

“Once he (the special prosecutor) has identified the potential of high corruption, I think that the whole deal should be abrogated,” he said