The Minority in Parliament has petitioned the Commission de Surveillance de Secteur Financier (CSSF) of Luxembourg to look into the purchase of a $2.25 billion bond reportedly by a firm from the European country.
According to the Minority, its investigations have revealed that Franklin Templeton, which bought majority of the 15-year and 7-year bonds, used a subsidiary Luxembourgian company to do so.
At a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu said “to satisfy additional jurisdictional issues, based on this revelation, a group of Minority MPs comprising Hon. Dominic Ayine (Dr.), Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Hon. Isaac Adongo have filed a whistleblower complaint with the regulator in Luxembourg”.
This brings to two external petitions filed by the Minority over the controversial bonds.
On May 16, 2017, the Minority announced that its Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr Ablakwa, had filed a petition – 15 days earlier – at the Enforcement Division of United States of America’s Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The Commission early last month appointed a case manager, Jennifer Carr, to adjudicate hearing.
The Minority is accusing the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Ken Ofori-Atta, of conflict of interest in the issuance and purchase of the bond.
It says Franklin Templeton’s manager, Trevor Trefgarne, is a board member of Enterprise Group owned by the Minister.
Mr Ofori-Atta has time and again justified the deal, adducing that no wrongdoing was committed in the sale.
The Minority gave an assurance to “the nation that we would continue to cooperate with ongoing international investigations to the best of our abilities and with all good intentions in the supreme interest of Ghana”.
