Minority members of Parliament (MPs) have requested the Speaker of the House to summon the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Mr. Alex Mould to the floor to answer questions over allegations of a US $700m loan facility the company secured without Parliamentary approval.
The MPs claim GNPC has secured a $700 million loan from the Deutsche Bank and used the Nation’s oil revenue as collateral, without the approval of Parliament
MP for Obuasi, Mr, Kweku Kwarteng, in a statement said GNPC cannot borrow without approval and therefore asked the Finance Committee of Parliament to look into the matter.
“As a State-owned company that does not pay corporate taxes to Government, its procurement of goods and services must fall under the Procurement Act,” he said, adding,“If the information we have is true, then what the GNPC has done is wrong.”
A member of the Finance Committee, Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah also questioned GNPC’s real motive behind the acquisition of the loan.
According to him, Government was using the GNPC to raise funds for developmental projects. “GNPC is funded by Government, if Government funds you and you intend to use this (oil) as collateral to raise money then it is troubling…the collateral, which is the oil revenues that come in are supposed to be reinvested in the downstream activities of oil exploration” he added
He went on to allege that “GNPC in a sense is being used as a conduit by the Government to raise money to fund its capital investment projects.”
Whilst Kwaku Kwarteng wants the Finance Committee to handle the matter, Dr. Assibey Yeboah prefers the Energy Committee takes it up.
Source: GhanaWeb
