Mills Abandons Blay Miezah Cash

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Government will no longer pursue the retrieval of monies in the Oman Ghana trust fund; a fund purportedly containing some 47 billion dollars believed to be owned by the people of Ghana, Dr. Cadman Mills, a member of government� economic advisory team has told Citifmonline. The money was allegedly lodged in the United Bank of Switzerland (UBS) by Ghana's first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah in 1959 and it is believed that its retrieval could inject life into Ghana's economy. However, there have been controversial claims of ownership of the fortune and it is unclear whether it belongs to the state or the late John Ackah Blay-Miezah, the sole trustee of the fund. Efforts by various governments over the years to retrieve the money had proved futile, thus heightening suspicion that it is a fluke. But a group known as Friends of Oman Ghana Trust Fund (FOGTF) and Gregg Freizer, an American businessman, who have been campaigning for the retrieval of the money for over 20 years, believe that there is nothing mythical about the money. Mr. Freizer is convinced that the fortune belongs to Ghana and not the late Ackah Blay-Miezah. On assumption of office, the Mills administration set up a team led by Dr. Cadman Mills, to verify the authenticity of the claims. In an exclusive interview with Citifmonline.com, Dr. Cadman Mills said his investigations so far had failed to provide any evidence that such a fund truly exist. Government has decided that it will not pursue the money any longer until new evidence is found. �There is not one very strong evidence that this money indeed does exist. Previous governments had tried to convince themselves that such a fund exist. �It is very difficult to tell the source of this fund and that is proving extremely difficult for us .The government decided based on a verbal report that I gave them. �Unless we get a very strong proof, government isn�t going to do anything about it,� he said. Dr. Mills added that the doubtful character of the originator of the story makes it even more difficult for the government to pursue the funds. �The originator of the story, Blay Meizer was not the most credible person in this world and all the rival groups who have come to the President with this story are the first to admit that Blay Meizer was a very shady character and that not everything he said was true. If we know a lot of the things that he said were not true; then how do we believe that the only thing which is true is this fund?� he questioned. Meanwhile, one of the advocates for the retrieval of the money, Gregg Freizer, in a rebuttal, said Dr. Cadman Mills is being deceived by a group, which once tried to steal the money from the nation. �The problem is Dr. Cadman is not being straightforward. Dr. Cadman�s brother is involved with the people who tried to steal the money from the nation. It is that same group which has come back to convince him,� he said. The money is said to have been deposited at the UBS by the government of the Convention People's Party (CPP) in 1959 to facilitate the prosecution of its economic agenda, which involved several development projects. Somehow and particularly after the death of Dr Nkrumah, Mr. Blay-Miezah managed to become the sole trustee, while he made the Finance Minister in the CPP government, Dr Kwasi Amoako-Attah, the sole beneficiary of the fund. As of 1986, the account of the fund was believed to have exceeded $400 billion, made up of $47 billion in current account and the rest in investment savings accounts. Considering the pedigree of the Swiss bank of doubling accounts every seven years, Friends of the Oman Ghana Trust Fund believe Ghana is now worth more than a whopping $3 trillion in the UBS.