General News of Monday, 3 September 2001
Source: Ghanaian Voice
....Presidential Jet, leased at $15m to go for $9m
It is now a done deal and very soon the Gulf stream III aircraft which was acquired by the previous regime and named Presidential Jet will soon be flying to a sellers' market at Savannah Georgia.
The Jet, which has been described by the NPP government that its acquisition was fraught with criminality may be soled at a down price of $9 million.
The Presidential Jet which President Kufuor has refused to use and has been hitch-hiking on fellow president's planes because he says that the will only use the jet if the real ownership of the plan ahs been established.
Now, the HSBC Bank has established that there was no fraud in the acquisition of the presidential jet, yet a company called Gallen exists and that they negotiated and acquired the jet for the Ghana government.
A special account has been established at the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York and that the amount was credited the amount.
And that, currently, there is a balance of $15,993,641.93.
The "Ghanaian Voice" has gathered that because the Kufuor government refused to us the plan for the past months another $2 million will have to be used to put it into shape before it takes on a "never-to-come-back-again" trip to the U.S.
We have laid hands on the agency agreement that will govern the sale and other correspondences on the whole jet affair. Now read on:
HSBC, Project & Export Finance,
Tel: (212) 5258112,
Facsimile: (202) 5256090,
July 26, 2001.
J.H.Mensah,
Leader of Government Business, and Chairman,
National Development, Planning Commission,
Parliament of Ghana,
P.O. Box CT 2517,
Cantonments,
Accra Ghana.
Re: Lese of Gulfstream GIII Aircraft, MSN 493
It was a pleasure finally to meet you in Accra on Friday, I trust that our discussions were able to put your mind further at rest in relation to the financing structure employment in the above transaction.
We have given serious consideration to the matters raised at our meeting and confirm that we continue to seek an amicable and efficient way to achieve your aims with regard to the sale of this aircraft. To this end, I had understood that my visit to Accra was to focus on our agreeing a format for the sale of the aircraft and, since the Government of Ghana has decided not to use the aircraft and the market for this type of aircraft continues to suffer from the effects of the global economic downturn, we continue to recommend that the aircraft is made available for sale at the earliest possible juncture. AN updated draft Sales Agency Agreement to this effect is enclosed for your consideration.
SECTION 1
a) Lease Principal
HSBC Securities (USA In, Investment Bank division, 590 Madison Avenue, 25th floor, New York, NY 10022-2, Tel: (202) 848-0502
The amount outstanding on the lease at 29th October 2001 can be quantified as follows:
Lease Principal $9,844,788.88
Interest on Lease Principal due 29th October 2001: 244,375.01
10,089,163.89
Opening Balance $15,993,641.93
Add Aircraft Sale Proceeds (est) $ 9,000,000.00
Less Outstanding Lease Principal $(10,089,163.49)
$ 14,904,478.44