The committee led by lawyer Philip Addison that concluded that the Ameri deal was fraudulent and recommended a renegotiation, was apparently sponsored by Ameri Energy, the Minority in Parliament has disclosed.
The committee as part of its investigation visited the Ameri Energy’s office in Dubai but the trip was ironically sponsored by the company it was supposed to investigate, that’s according former Power Minister Dr. Kwabena Donkor. At a press conference organized by the Minority in Parliament Monday, he challenged the committee to make public who paid for the trip to Dubai. “Members of the Addison Committee, including Mr. Addison himself visited Dubai.
They have meetings with Ameri even after this report was written. We want to ask, who paid for their tickets? Who paid for the hotel accommodation that they used. “We have the evidence that Ameri Energy paid for their hotel, Ameri Energy paid for the flight tickets.”
Dr. Donkor also asked rhetorically, “If you are going to investigate someone, do they pay for your tickets and pay for your accommodation and host you?” The final copy of the Addison-led committee which was leaked before it was signed by members of the committee recommended that government abrogate the contract if Ameri refuses to renegotiate.
“Based on these observations, the Committee recommends that Ameri Energy should be invited back to the negotiation table to address and remedy the issues enumerated in this report and for GoG to aim to claw back a substantial portion of the over US$150 million commission. In the event that Ameri Energy refuses to come to the negotiation table, GoG should repudiate the Agreement on the grounds of fraud,” the report said in part.
But Mr. Kwabena Donkor who supervised the signing of the deal said although the committee never invited him or anyone in the previous administration in the course of the investigation, the last thing the Minority in Parlimaent will do is to play politics with the country’s energy. Energy is something that should not be “divided between NPP and NDC”, he emphasized, “therefore they should be candid with us”.
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