The executive director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative Vitus Azeem has told Pulse.com.gh that somebody must take the fall for the financial loss caused to the state in the acquisition of the gas turbine from AMERI if investigations prove that due diligence was not done.
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Somebody must take the fall for fraudulent Ameri deal - Vitus Azeem
The Power Minister, Kwabena Donkor and Deputy Attorney General Dominic Ayene and one other government official according to investigation by Norwegian newspaper VG signed a "fraudulent" deal to acquire ten gas turbines from Ameri Group for 510 million dollars
VG.no a Norwegian news website has published investigation revealing that the Power Minister Dr. Kwabena Donkor has signed a deal with a Pakistani Norwegian for the acquisition of ten gas turbines for more than twice the actual cost of the turbines.
The story claims the cost of the gas turbines is around 220 million dollars and not the 510 million dollars Ghana paid.
It also reveals that Umar Farooq Zahoor the man who posed as the CEO of AMERI is a notorious fraudster wanted by Norwegian and Swiss police for spectacular acts of fraud committed in the last ten years.
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The report by the website states that when journalists came to Ghana to speak to Dr. Kwabena Donkor he indeed admitted to signing a deal with the gentleman in question.
“I know him; he is the Chief executive of Ameri Group”, Donkor said, according to the reportage.
The journalists also showed Dr. Kwabena Donkor a picture of another man who co-signed the agreement and his response according to the reportage was ”The sheikh, his royal highness. They both work for Ameri Group,”
The Power ministry is yet to speak to these issues raised by the Norwegian website but Mr. Azeem tells Pulse.com.gh that government must look into this issue.
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“It should be necessary for the government to look into this matter and see whether it was just that somebody was not careful or that somebody even benefited from this agreement” He says
The website also reveals that the website for AMERI group was created two months before signing the multi-million dollar agreement with Ghana.
The story also indicates that the “multi-million dollar contract was signed in the greatest secrecy. There were no members of the press present when the contract was entered into. Until now, the name of the person who represented the company was a well-kept secret.”
The story says It was signed by the Power Minister Dr. Kwabena Donkor , Deputy Attorney General Dominic Ayene and another high profile authority in government
Read More: AMERI pipeline connection to VRA systems causes bad blood between Ghana Gas and Power Ministry
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According to Mr. Azeem “government needs to go investigations first to find out whether it was a genuine mistake some actions would have to be taken against people who have made such genuine mistakes.”
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