The story claims the cost of the gas turbines is around 220 million dollars and not the 510 million dollars Ghana paid.
VG is based in Oslo and its editor-in-chief is Torry Pedersen. The paper is published in tabloid format. The owner is the media conglomerate Schibsted, which also owns Norway’s largest newspaper, Aftenposten, as well as newspapers in Sweden and Estonia and shares in some of Norway’s larger regional newspapers.
VG is not affiliated with any political party and in 2013, was Norway’s second largest print newspapers, measured in circulation, but had the largest number of readers, with a daily readership of 631,000.
Kwami Sefa Kayi: there is a story making the rounds in Ghana about a story you put out in your paper; can you give us highlights of it. What exactly is it?
Amund Bakke-Foss: what we said in this article is that a Norwegian-Pakistani man wanted for fraud and organized crime and mafia activities in Norway, has been a part of a deal signed with the Ministry of Power in Ghana and the Government in Ghana and this man is wanted internationally by the INTERPOL system by the Norwegian police and the Swiss police for financial crimes and fraud.
The deal that he has done together with Ameri group and the Prince of Dubai is a deal that the Government of Ghana said has a price of $510m. This is a lot of money and we have also checked the price of an outright purchase of the same equipment in the market is around $220. But we just want to raise the question that why did the government of Ghana pay so much and we don’t have the answer. We don’t know who the money goes to and when the money is paid. We have just referred to open sources about what the Ghana government paid and what is usually cost for buying it outside. But the main thing here for us is that the CEO of the company Ameri; when the deal was signed is a wanted criminal that has been born and raised in Oslo and that we know him as a Mafia criminal.
Kwami Sefa Kayi: When was this deal signed?
Amund Bakke-Foss: the deal was signed her in February.
Kwami Sefa Kayi: You said the deal was signed in February; where was it signed? Here in Ghana?
Amund Bakke-Foss: We don’t know; it doesn’t say in the contract. What we know is that Mr. Donkor (Power Minister) himself has confirmed to us that Mr Umar Farooq Zahoor - and he saw a picture of him and confirmed that he knows him - and that he was the Chief Executive of Ameri group and then he pointed out the Prince from Dubai and said he is the chairman.
Kwami Sefa Kayi: Now interestingly, we have it on authority that the Power Minister said Umar Farooq Zahoor is not part of Ameri.
Amund Bakke-Foss: what I can confirm is that we have on tape; we have everything that Donkor himself confirmed that he knows Umar Farooq Zahoor; he saw a picture of him and he said he was the Chief Executive of AMERI group. Now Umar Farooq Zahoor has left Ameri group; the firm themselves have told us; "to pursue bigger opportunities." At the time he signed the deal, he was the Chief Executive of AMERI group.
Kwami Sefa Kayi: We hear that there are two companies involved. Which companies are these…?
Amund Bakke-Foss: What we know is that the Greek company; METKA (Metal Constructions of Greece SA) got a contract to deliver the turbines to Ghana. They went into the deal with Ameri as partners to deliver. Then METKA said General Electric (GE) has had active part in the deal…which is giving them the equipment. And so METKA and General Electric…but Ameri and Ghana government were the ones who signed the deal
Kwami Sefa Kayi: did Ameri go into signing this deal as a partner with METKA?
Amund Bakke-Foss: No…as we know, METKA became a partner with Ameri in September. At least what we know, in September, they came out with a press release saying they were cooperating with Ameri to deliver ten turbines to Ghana; to help the country with the energy crisis.
Kwami Sefa Kayi: Could Ghana have gone straight to GE to buy?
Amund Bakke-Foss: That is up to someone where else to say but I guess they could because a lot of other countries have done this and we don’t understand why they use these middle men in Ameri. We just state the prices and state the fact that a criminal from Norway, Pakistan is part of the deal. It may look like Ghana could have gotten this cheaper but it is up to the future to see what the explanation here is.
Kwami Sefa Kayi: So what are the questions we should be asking our government?
Amund Bakke-Foss: In the Parliament, Donkor said the reason we go for this deal - more expensive Ameri deal - is that they can deliver very fast…but what we know is that turbine did not arrive in Ghana but what we know is the turbine did not arrive in Ghana eight months after the deal was done and so it was late anyway. And so we don’t understand why they chose to use Ameri. Could they have gotten it a lot cheaper? Who is getting the money here? And what do they know about the background of Umar farooq before they signed it?
I want to know more about Ameri itself. The webpages were created two months before the deal was signed in. They have no sign, no offices in the place they say they have offices and no one in the building knows them. We have tried to track down the site; it’s nowhere to be found and Umar himself is gone...
One person from Ameri answered us; she called herself Kate and only Kate and she said "we don’t understand why a Norwegian newspaper is interested in what we do with the country in Africa; Ghana?"
Kwami Sefa Kayi: Are you suggesting that Ameri is a ghost company?
Amund Bakke-Foss: We are careful to suggest anything but as reporters we want to write what we know; we don’t want to write what we don't know and we don’t want to write anything that we don’t have full control over…it might be a real company. We don’t know and we want the answers. Everything we wrote in the report is what we know and we want the answers. We don’t want to indicate anything that we cannot prove. Our newspaper is the biggest in Norway….and we have worked with this story for months and we don’t want to indicate something that we can’t prove.
Kwami Sefa Kayi: In your research before your report, did you find out who Ameri’s representative in Ghana was?
Amund Bakke-Foss: We are working on some leads but what we know is the two people from Ameri have their names on the contract and we know who they are.
Kwami Sefa-Kayi: You are a Norwegian newspaper; what is your interest in all of these?
Amund Bakke-Foss: It’s because one of the main men; behind the deal; the chief executive of Ameri is well known to us; he is wanted by Norwegian police for bank fraud; one of the biggest bank fraud in Norwegian history; he has escaped prosecution in Norway; he now lives in Dubai…he is now wanted by the Interpol and also by Swiss police for creating a false banks and draining the customers’ money; $7m.
Kwami Sefa-Kayi: when was he declared wanted?
Amund Bakke-Foss: he was declared wanted last year and he was internationally wanted already and the police confirmed in Norway that he was wanted because of mafia and organized crime here in Norway.
Kwami Sefa Kayi: it means as at the time he was signing the deal with the power minister, he was a wanted man?
Amund Bakke-Foss: Yes!
Kwami Sefa Kayi: Finally before you go; how did you arrive at the figure $510 and $220?
Amund Bakke-Foss: The figure $510m was found in an official document from the parliament hearing in the parliament in Ghana; when the deal was approved by parliament and so there it said the deal is worth $510m after five years of this contract. It’s in the document. What was interesting is that the government web pages were these documents were to be found broke down. We don’t know why but it was not possible to enter the webpages of parliament. The figure 220, we found this by asking a lot of international experts and we looked at former deals done by other countries that indicated that 220m was the standard price for this equipment if we buy it upfront.
Kwami Sefa Kayi: So if we had purchased it upfront, we would have gotten it for $220m.
Amund Bakke-Foss: Yes that it’s true; of course there will be additional cost for fuel…but this is also something which is additional in the Ameri deal. It says in the parliament official document that the price 510 is for equipment only!
Kwami Sefa Kayi: Has any money been paid?
Amund Bakke-Foss: We don’t know; it must be up to the good journalist of Ghana to find out.
Kwami Sefa Kayi: I guess you have done your part, we will do ours. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.
Amund Bakke-Foss: Thank you so much for listening to me and good luck.
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