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US SEC "launching full scale investigation" into $2.25bn bond - Okudzeto
Okudzeto, who petitioned the body on behalf of the Minority, said a case manager has been appointed for the case.
The latest development comes after the Finance Minister briefed parliament about the processes leading to the issuance of the bond.
He told Citi FM: “I can confirm to you that the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America has formally communicated to us and informed us that a case manager by name Jennifer M. Carr has been appointed as the case manager on this case.”
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"The communication indicates that they are launching a full scale investigation into the US 2.25 billion bond issue which as you do know has generated considerable controversies."
According to him, the Minority "still insist that there is the need to raise concerns over the general lack of transparency, the general abuse of process, conflict of interest and violation of the laws of Ghana and other international financial laws, and that is why we continue to ask all the questions.”
Surprisingly, when the Minority filed a "Half Hour Motion" in parliament seeking clarification and documentation from the Finance Minister, allegations of lack of transparency, abuse of the process and conflict of interest were dropped.
On Wednesday, Ofori-Atta told parliament that the recent 2.25 billion dollar bond was processed without violating the laws of Ghana.
He said the allegations by the minority may only be a result of a genuine lack of understanding of the processes of bond issuance.
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Mr Ofori Atta said, the issuance was transparent and was done in accordance with how bonds and government securities have been issued over the years.
He added that that the Ministry of Finance, “had no direct dealings with investors” during the issuance of the bond.
“All prospective bidders bid through their primary dealers, who in turn submitted the investor’s bids through the Central Securities Depository platform. The joint transaction advisers then collate these bids to build up a book on which the bonds are issued. At no time during the book building process did the Ministry of Finance negotiate with any investor in any way, and it will indeed be quite difficult to manipulate the process when the three financial institutions are governed strictly by the Bank of Ghana’s rules and regulations.”
Mr Ofori-Atta added that “there were no breaches of integrity either on government’s part or on the joint book runner’s part.”
“It may be tempting to say that the apparent attempt to manufacture some form of integrity deficit is generally borne out of a lack of understanding of the actual process,” he added.
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