The Herald has landed a shocking document in the ongoing controversy over the disposal of Discoverer 511 drillship owned by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) by the Kufuor government for over US$24 million, to settle a US$19.5 million out of court negotiated debt, owed Societe Generale Bank.

The document, authored by ex-Energy Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah, on whose watch the drillship was sold, punched gaping holes in the claims of his then deputy, Kwabena Tahir Hammond, on how, when and where the settlement transaction with Societe Generale Bank, was reached.

More shocking, is the suggestion by Mr. Kan-Dapaah, in a memo dated August 5, 2001 that the Government of Ghana paid the French bank US$10 million contrary to the US$19.5 million that he, K.T Hammond and Kweku Baako, the Managing Editor of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, have maintained.

The memo is entitled "GNPC Hedging Losses With Societe Generale" was sent to then President John Kufuor, three clear weeks after K.T Hammond's stated date of negotiation with Societe Generale, and the dropping of the US$3.5 million remainder into Government of Ghana bank account.

It also gave indications that President Kufuor was constantly briefed on discussions on the settlement and the subsequent sale of the drillship, to pay off the agreed amount.

Interestingly also, Mr. Kan-Dapaah in his letter, identified K.T Hammond as chairing a negotiation committee made up of Madam Gloria Akuffo, Dr. Ghesika Agambila, in his capacity as a Deputy Minister-designate for the Energy Ministry. At the time, both Gloria Akuffo and Dr. Agambila were already serving as Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Minister of Finance respectively.

It also intriguingly revealed that the debt owed Societe General, was rather settled in August 2001, contrary to claims by Mr. K.T. Hammond that the debt was paid sometime in July 2001 by him in London, after singlehandedly selling the drillship on July 16, 2001.

The letter, further revealed that Mr. Kan-Dapaah, rather did the negotiations here in Ghana, on behalf of the Kufuor government, in a meeting with officials and lawyers of the Societe Generale Bank in France and London, as against the claims by K.T Hammond, including Kweku Baako, in New the Crusading Guide newspaper that he (K.T Hammond) did the negotiations.

Mr. Kan-Dapaah, in the letter disclosed his two unsuccessful meetings with an official of Societe Generale, Nick Mends, Vice-President in-charge of Commodities based in the New York Office -America on August 4 and 5, 2011, respectively in Accra, in an effort to have the debt settled out of the UK Court, quietly.

The ex-Energy Minister in the letter he wrote to President Kufuor said "following our discussions over the weekend, Mr. Nick Mends of Societe Generale came to see me in my office yesterday. Mr. Mends is a Vice-President in charge of Commodities in the New York Office of Societe Generale".

Mr. Kan-Dapaah went on that "this morning, Mr. Mends came to see me and delivered the attached letter. He mentioned to me that the $5 million offer I made was not acceptable to his principals in France. In our subsequent discussions, I got the dear impression that he would accept a negotiated settlement of $10 million".

"Attached is a letter he sent to me today subsequent to our meeting the previous day which records the issues we discussed at the meeting", the ex-Minister, disclosed.

He told President Kufuor that "You will note from paragraph four of his letter that I insisted that the Government would want to de-couple the settlement discussions from the Drilling Vessel D511 even though the vessel is the subject of a mortgage to the Bank. Further, I made an offer of $5million in full settlement of the claim of $43 million", disputing his own claims that GNPC owed Societe Generale, US$47 million debt.

"I still want to believe that there is scope to negotiate for a figure between $5 and $10 million. In this connection, I propose that a team comprising the following is set up to negotiate with Mr. Mends tomorrow: Mr. K.T Hammond, who was designated as 'Minister of Energy Designate', Dr. G.A. Agambila, Deputy Minister of Finance and Ms. Gloria Akuffo, then a Deputy Minister of Justice.

Mr. Kan-Dapaah told President Kufuor that "the Committee's final offer would be cleared with Your Excellency, before a deal is struck with Societe Generale?.

From the above letter, it is clear that somebody has a lot of questions to answer at the Justice Yaw Apau?s Judgment Debt Commission.

These are, when exactly did the sale of the drillship take place, how much was it sold for. What amount was negotiated and settled on with Societe Generale and by who, Mr. Kan-Dapaah or K.T. Hammond?