The impediment blocking the Judgment Debt Commission’s (JDC) effort to unravel the mystery and uncertainty surrounding the sale of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation’s (GNPC) drill ship, Discoverer 511, has been handed a lifeline as the main players involved in the saga have been officially summoned before the commission.

The former chief executive officer of GNPC, Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, the former minister of Energy Albert Kan-Dapaah, under whose watch the drill ship was sold, his deputy K.T. Hammond who conducted the transaction on behalf of government during President John Kufuor’s administration, as well as the Bank of Ghana, have been summoned before the commission.

Mr. Kan-Dapaah and his deputy K.T. Hammond are to appear before the JDC chaired by the Sole Commissioner, Justice Yaw Apau, on Monday November 25, 2013 together with the Bank of Ghana, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, Ministry of Roads and Transport (Department of Feeder Roads) and Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing.

Whereas, Mr. Tsikata together with the Lands Commission, the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s Department and Mr. Samuel Apo Kumah also take their turn on Tuesday 26, 2013.

It would be recalled that many personalities, including past and present chief executive officers of GNPC, Societe Generale and other persons who directly or indirectly played any role in the disposal of the drill ship have all given their respective testimonies to the commission.

The Commission of Inquiry was established by President John Mahama to inquire into Judgment Debt Payments and other related matters.

A release copied to the Daily Heritage yesterday and signed by the Public Relations Officer of the Commission, George William Dove, directed that those invited are at liberty to appear with their lawyers. Public sittings start at 10.00 a.m. each day.

“Members of the public who wish to testify or volunteer information are first to report at the Commission’s office to give their statements. The Commission will then schedule a date for them to give evidence.

“All those who intend to testify or volunteer information to the Commission but are unable to be present in person are requested to submit memoranda to the Commission. All such memoranda will be treated confidentially,” the release noted.

The GNPC drill ship was sold in July 2001 under the reign of former President Kufuor for $24m to defray a judgment debt of $19.5 GNPC owed Societe Generale.

It would be recalled that on September 16, 2013 (published in the Daily Heritage’s September 17, 2013 edition), the former minister of energy, Mr Kan-Dapaah voluntarily wrote to the Judgment Debt Commission and stated that the drill ship D511 was sold by the Government of Ghana and Societe Generale to settle credit facility debts GNPC had obtained from Societe Generale.

He stated in the letter that, “upon assumption of office in January, 2011, we realized that GNPC had lost focus of its core mandate and run up debts inter alia which had dire consequences for the economy of Ghana. GNPC could not even pay its own staff such that staff of GNPC will on a monthly basis storm the offices of the Minister of Energy amidst drumming and singing to demand salaries.”

Mr. Kan-Dapaah said as Minister of Energy, he immediately set out to streamline GNPC’s operations to ensure its sustainability with the consent and approval of President Kufuor and cabinet, and that other steps also taken were the setting up of a committee to restructure GNPC and staff redundancy.

He further stated that, “In the course of the restructuring of GNPC, the Ministry of Energy’s attention was drawn to litigation between Societe Generale (SG) and GNPC in an overseas court where SG had sued for the recovery of a debt of Forty Seven Million United States Dollars (US$ 47,000,000.00) from GNPC.

“The said debt arose from some derivative transactions entered into by GNPC to manage oil price risk in anticipation of the production of oil from the Tano fields. SG in pursuance of its claim sought and obtained orders from the courts to arrest the Discoverer 511, which was then on duty in the waters of Oman and actually arrest the vessel. The vessel had been used as collateral for credit facility GNPC had obtained from SG,”he explained.

He stated that having been alarmed by the development, the government of President Kufuor after thorough deliberations came to the conclusion that if it allowed the Discoverer 511 to be sold in satisfaction of the judgment debt, SG may sell it for less and thereafter still proceed to attach any property belonging to the Republic of Ghana for sale to make up for any shortfall in the judgment debt sum.

In the process, he said, Mr. Hammond, the “then Deputy Minister of Energy was mandated to open negotiations with SG for and on behalf of the Government of Ghana (GoG) in respect of a reduction in the judgment debt to be paid and the sale of the Discoverer 511.

“Following extensive negotiations with SG, GoG managed to reach an agreement with SG to pay it Nineteen Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$ 19,500,000), thereby saving GoG Twenty Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$ 27,500,000.00).

“Upon reaching the agreement in respect of the negotiated sum of Nineteen Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$ 19,500,000), GoG made a request of SG for it to be allowed to sell the vessel and pay the negotiated sum to SG. SG rejected the request of GoG to be allowed to sell the Discoverer 511 and pay SG on ground that it could not guarantee that GoG will pay it the negotiated sum if it was allowed to sell the vessel.

He intimated that, “GoG and SG then reached an agreement to sell the vessel and pay the proceeds into an escrow account to be operated by lawyers of both SG and GoG and a representative of SG and Hon. K.T. Hammond as representative of GoG. The sale itself was conducted jointly by the solicitors of SG and GoG with the active involvement of GNPC.

“The vessel pursuant to the aforementioned understanding between GoG and SG was sold for Twenty Four Million United States Dollars (US$ 24,000,000.) out of which sum SG was paid its entitlement of Nineteen Million Five Hundred Thousand united States Dollars (US$ 19,500,000). The UK lawyers who worked on the transaction were paid One Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$ 100,000.00) for their services. A cheque of Three Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$ 3,500,000.) in the name of GoG was also paid to the Ministry of Finance.

“GNPC made representations to the Ministry of Energy that it owed certain individuals and institutions who had done work and/or provided services to the vessel and desired that the remaining sum of Nine Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$ 900,000) will be used to pay off some of the debts owed those individuals and companies. The Ministry of Energy in its response asked GNPC to submit claims regarding those individuals and companies for vetting; following which all claims that were passed as genuine were forwarded to the signatories of the escrow account for payment.

He stressed that there was no aspect of this whole transaction that was kept secret and not made known to Ghanaians at the time and that there was a press conference to inform Ghanaians about details of the transaction.

“I have furnished these facts to the Commission as part of my duties as a citizen of the Republic and also as the Minister of Energy during whose tenure these events that have become the subject matter of intense public commentary took place and not for any collateral effect.”