PIAC requests details of GNPC acquisition of $7.5m apartments

The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) is seeking more information on the transfer of the $7.5 million by the CEO of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Dr. K.K. Sarpong to a company he once worked for in 2017.

PIAC in a statement said the “responses and documentation provided by GNPC will enable PIAC to come to an informed position on the matter.”

Pursuant to the mandate to “conduct independent assessment of the management and use of petroleum revenues to assist Parliament and the Executive in the oversight and performance of related functions respectively”, as provided for in Section 52(c) of the PRMA, the Committee has written to GNPC to seek further clarifications of some of the issues that lie at the heart of the allegations.

Internal GNPC memos signed by Dr. K.K. Sarpong indicated that he authorized the transfer of $7.5 million to a company he once worked for in 2017, Global Haulage Company Limited for the residential facilities located at Chapel Hill in Takoradi.

Dr. Sarpong has insisted that the deal was transparent.

In an interview on Accra-based Joy FM, he said, “the transaction is above board, all valuation reports by relevant agencies went through the board of directors [and] the board of directors’ sub-committee on properties looked at it and recommended [its suitability] to the board.”

Review of TEN crude oil marketing policy

GNPC was also in the news for being queried by the government for costing the state $34 million in oil revenue because of the purported of under-pricing of oil products from the TEN field.

In a Finance Ministry letter, GNPC was said to have allowed the off-takers to choose the lowest possible price for the product when it could have insisted on the highest possible price within the pricing window.

However, the GNPC, in a July letter to the Finance Ministry, said some of the noted discounts were within a context that “presented Ghana with significant benefits which far exceed any perceived losses from the sale of the TEN crude oil as portrayed.”

Because of the GNPC’s defense, PIAC feels an independent panel needed to review the TEN crude oil marketing policy.

“Given that, GNPC appears to contest this view, as evident in the Corporation’s response to the Minister’s directive, PIAC strongly recommends the establishment of an independent panel of experts with key representation from GNPC, MoF, BoG, PC, GRA, and PIAC, to review the TEN crude oil marketing policy, and to settle the matter.”

“It is important to recognize that even a dollar price differential for a barrel of crude
can amount to substantial losses. This is because a parcel of crude from our oil fields is usually around a million barrels. A dollar mark-down done fraudulently can, therefore, lead to a loss of a million dollars per lifting,” the statement added.

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citinewsroom.com/Ghana

Source: citifmonline.com