STATEMENT - Betty: I Acted Properly And Diligently In The Debt Payment To CP

Former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Madam Betty Mould-Iddrisu has denied any wrong doing during her tenure as A-G and in particular, her role in the settlement of claims raised against the Government of Ghana by Construction Pioneers (CP). The former A-G, and until recently the Minister for Education, stands accused of acting improperly in the payment of a colossal amount of �94million to the road construction firm as judgment debt, and also allegedly waiving all the taxes without parliamentary approval on the payment. Government had, in a negotiated settlement spearheaded by Betty Mould-Iddrisu, agreed to pay CP an amount of �94million as settlement claims for the alleged termination of five road contracts. However, the Auditor-General�s report for 2009 revealed that at the time of the settlement agreement, CP had evaded taxes amounting to 284 million Deutsche Marks and �52billion, which the then Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was pursuing. Members of the opposition New Patriotic Party insist it was improper for the former A-G to have reached an agreement with CP at a time when there were counter claims from Government of Ghana against the construction firm. In March 2010, CP entered into a settlement agreement with the GoG for an amount of �94,000,000 for wrongful abrogation of contracts in 2003. However, even before an agreement was concluded, the former A-G is said to have authorized the payment of �14million in 2009, being part payment of the of settlement claim of the �94,000,000; and other payments made in 2010. But a statement released on the issue, Solicitors for Madam Betty Mould-Iddrisu said their client stridently refutes current media speculations that she may have acted improperly in the debt payment to CP Construction. �Our client also denies allegations that she ordered a remission of taxes due the State from C.P Construction. Our client states that she was unaware of any tax due from C.P Construction and in any case under the Financial Administration Act, Act 65 (16(3) she was not the paying officer�.The former Attorney General states that at all material times she acted professionally to protect the image of Ghana internationally and in the best interest of the State. She believes that her true role in these matters will be established in the fullness of time,� Nana Ato Dadzie, of Dadzie and Associates said in the statement. Read below the statement issued by Solicitors for the former Attorney-General