Drillship saga: Evidence prove US$3.5m was deposited in UK bank

New Crusading Guide is reporting that it has documents to prove that the missing US$3.5 million was deposited in a UK bank upon the instruction of Ghana’s High Commission in the UK in 2001.

Their evidence indicates that on July 25, 2001, the Treasury Officer at the Office of Ghana’s High Commissioner to the UK, Mr. Emmanuel Bani, in a letter titled: OPENING OF ACCOUNT- TREASURY OFFICER SPECIAL DOLLAR INVESTMENT ACCOUNT, instructed the Ghana International Bank (GIB) to open a dollar account for the Commission.

The paper also has in its possession another letter written by Mrs. L. Buamah, the Assistant Retail Manager of GIB, informing the High Commission that the account had been opened as instructed by Emmanuel Bani.

That letter read: “We wish to advise you that we have opened a USD Deposit Account in your name at this office to which we have allocated the above number and have sent for collection your bankers draft for USD 3,500,000.00”.

There have been speculations in the media that some key officials of the erstwhile Kufuor Administration had embezzled the US$3.5million dollars balance from the sale of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) drillship.

The GNPC drillship, Discoverer 511, was sold in July 2001 by the Kufuor Administration for US$24million to defray debts of the corporation which included some US$19.5million owed Societe Generale, $1million as the company’s legal fees and other expenses; and a balance of $3.5million paid into government’s account in Ghana International Bank PLC (GIB) in London.

The New Crusading Guide have already published a documenatary evidence of the issuance of a 3.5 milllion Banker's Draft from Chase Manhattan Bank in New York via the GIB, on November 4, 2013.

In its November 4, 2013 edition, the paper published a documentary proof of the financial trail relative to the issuance of the $3.5 million Banker's Draft, its transmission to Chase Manhattan Bank, New York via the Ghana International Bank (GIB) and related information.