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A former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, has denied allegations made by a former Minister of Energy and his Deputy in the erstwhile Kufuor administration, Mr. Albert Kan Dapaah and K. T. Hammond respectively, that there was a default judgment which led to the sale of the drill ship Discoverer 511 at US$24 million. Mr. Tsikata indicated to the Commission that �right at the end of my tenure, there was no judgment or judgment debt against GNPC or Government of Ghana as far as December 2000, and GNPC was still a corporate body that can sue and be sued.� According to Mr. Tsikata, at the time he left office, the case was still pending in a London High Court, which was being defended by Bindman and Partners, when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) assumed office in 2001, contrary to the earlier claims that the case had already been thrown out of court. Mr. Tsikata intimated to the Justice Appau-led Commission that Bindman and Partners contested the case in London, and there was even a counter-claim. He further explained to the Commission that the GNPC contested and defended the case, because it had a good case, as a result of wrong derivatives advice given to them by Societ� General (SG). Tsatsu further told the Commission that though the GNPC owed SG over $40 million, it was due to various credit transactions between them since 1997, which, from all indications, SG was prepared to compromise and accept $20 million. Mr. Tsikata added that at a point in time, the GNPC and its legal team, which was Bindman and Partners, managed to beat down the debt to $12 million, however, in the course of the process of the negotiation, he (Tsikata) left office. He was, therefore, surprised at a claim by the former Deputy Minister, Mr. K.T. Hammond, that Birdman was a human rights law firm, which was incapable of defending the GNPC case. �I think that statements like that are out of ignorance. Mr. Hammond should know that the Lead Counsel, Jones Muhan, who was in charge for the GNPC case, was a good lawyer.� The former GNPC boss further told the Judgment Debt Commission that he was surprised to hear that the Discoverer 511, which was a valuable asset to GNPC in particular, and the nation as a whole, was sold by persons who had no technical expertise of the vessel. Mr. Tsikata noted that the drill ship was in very good shape, which was earning good money for the GNPC, and was on a business trip to Brazil as at the end of his tenure. The former GNPC boss did not also understand how the two former Energy Ministers could describe the situation of the GNPC at that time as �Bizarre�, which they could not explain to the Commission. When quizzed by the Lead Counsel for the Commission, Mr. Dometi Kofi Sokpor, whether as at the time he left office the GNPC had any foreign accounts, and if it would amaze him to learn that a new account was opened in the name of the GNPC? Tsikata responded that the GNPC had various foreign accounts with the Ghana International Bank in the UK before he left office, and that he was surprised to learn that a new account was opened. Quoting Section 19 of the GNPC Law, he said it was mandatory for the GNPC to have foreign accounts, which should be supervised by Bank of Ghana. He said, �at some point it looked like the then President of Ghana was becoming the debt collector for GNPC.� Mr. Tsikata submitted some necessary documents, including a copy of the press conference held on September 6, 2001 to counter all allegations made by Mr. Kan Dapaah. He, therefore, challenged those who would wish to cross-examine him, to do so, as he was prepared to meet them boot for boot.