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Finance Minister to give ‘full disclosure’ on $2.25bn bond issue today

Even before the Ken Ofori-Atta appears before Parliament, the Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, has said that the minority would only accept a full disclosure on the bond issue from the Minister.

This comes after a half-hour motion was passed last week by the House to summon the minister to provide the full complement of documentation related to the issuance, the participants, the utilisation of proceeds and the currency in which the bond was settled.

The motion was filed by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu.

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In filing the motion Haruna Iddrisu argued that any government expenditure in relation to the Appropriation Bill must come before the house since Parliament approved the bill.

The Minority in Parliament have raised several concerns about the transparency or otherwise of the $2.25 billion domestic bond government issued.

They have alleged that the process has been shrouded in secrecy and also raised alarms of conflict of interest against the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta.

The Minority alleged that a non-executive director on the Board of Investment Firm, Franklin Templeton, which purchased 95 percent of the bond, is also the Chairman of the Enterprise Group, which has links to the Attorney-General and the Finance Minister.

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Even before the Ken Ofori-Atta appears before Parliament, the Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, told Accra-based Citi FM that the minority would only accept a full disclosure on the bond issue from the Minister.

“The minister responsible for finance should appear before this House and present to this Honourable House the full complement of all the documentation relating to the issuance of this bond. That is what we asked for.”

He added that if the Minister does otherwise, they will see it as “contempt of Parliament because Parliament was specific. The resolution was straight forward. No ambiguity involved. We said present full complements of the documentation.”

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