Invite Terkper over $250m Eurobond deal – EOCO, BNI told

A youth group in the Upper East Region, Atlantic Base, which is sympathetic to the cause of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has charged the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to as a matter of national interest, invite the Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, for forensic investigation to settle the inconsistencies over the said diversion of 250 million from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to a private Bank.

“We have in the last couple of days been given inconsistent information on this clandestine activity. The minister of finance refers us to laws that run counter to that of Section 53 of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) Act 2002 (Act 612), which relates to the state foreign exchange. ‘The Bank shall hold all foreign exchange of the State and be responsible to Parliament in the performance of its function………’ We, therefore, see the $250 million deposited at UBA, which is a private Bank, as illegal and unlawful. That $250 million should be part of Ghana’s foreign reserves and must remain as such,” a statement issued by the group said.

The group’s concerns and subsequent calls to the security institutions to act seem to have emanated from an expose during a lecture delivered by Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, vice presidential candidate of the NPP, at the Accra Polytechnic on May 5, 2016.

In the course of that lecture, themed “Youth Unemployment, Causes and Solutions,” Alhaji Dr Bawumia is reported to have made a startling revelation on how an amount of $250 million from Ghana’s Eurobond had been diverted into a private bank – United Bank of Africa – contrary to the Bank of Ghana Act.

According to the NPP group, the minister of finance, in his attempt to defend his government, on May 9 claimed responsibility for diverting the amount, but failed to give Ghanaians a convincing response to Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s expose.

“According to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the interest rate at which the $250 million was lent to the private bank was 10.75 %. Government in turn, borrowed the $250 million from the same private bank at an interest rate of 20%, causing a financial loss of a whopping 9.25%. Shocking!” the statement recalled.

The group says its members and other members of the public are worried that government communicators are now telling Ghanaians that the money was lodged into the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund, which has the mandate to invest the said money to generate profit.

It is on this ground and others that Atlantic Base wants the EOCO and the BNI to invite Mr. Terkper to settle the brouhaha he has generated.