�A former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, has stated that the 102 million euros paid to Construction Pioneers (CP) was in respect of the company�s claims for its mobilisation and movement of equipment to the Yamoransa-Assin Praso road site.
She explained that since the Ghana Highway Authority entered into contract with CP and instructed the company to mobilise itself to the site, CP had every right to claim for its mobilisation.
Making her third appearance before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, Mrs Mould-Iddrisu explained that that conformed to both local and international practices when contracts were abrogated.
Wednesday's appearance at PAC�s ongoing public sitting to consider the Auditor-General�s report on the public accounts of Ghana (Consolidated Fund) for the year ended 2010 was characterised by controversy.
Before the commencement of proceedings, Mrs Mould-Iddrisu had requested that the Member of Parliament (MP) for Atwima, Mr Isaac Kwame Asiamah, whom she had accused of making libelous and scandalous statements on air against her, be prevented from the sitting.
When she failed to convince the Chairman of the PAC, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, to cede to her demand, she and her legal team requested that they be allowed to go out and confer, but that request was also rejected.
Mr Kan-Dapaah advised Mrs Mould-Iddrisu and her legal team to direct their grievances against any member of the PAC to the Speaker of Parliament or go to court.
All members of the Majority side on the 25-member committee were conspicuously absent from yesterday�s sitting.
When she agreed to continue with the sitting, Mrs Mound-Iddrisu told the committee that CP made the claims for the profit lost and charges incurred for transporting heavy equipment to the Yamoransa site and bringing it back to Accra because of the abrogation of the contract.
She could, however, not tell the committee off hand the cost of the Yamoransa-Assin Praso and Akim Oda road projects.
She stated that her request that documents from the Attorney-General�s Department on the CP matter be made available to her had not materialised, hence her inability to provide figures.
She stated that the global settlement between Ghana and CP was not done between her and CP alone but in consultation with relevant government agencies and CP.
Mrs Mould-Iddrisu also denied that it was CP which called for the settlement when its position at the international arbitration was crumbling and explained that it was the previous administration that initiated the settlement.
Mr Kan-Dapaah, however, assured her that transcripts of her previous appearances and the committee�s sittings during which the CP matter came up for discussion would be made available to her to enable her to cross-check her submissions and those of others on the matter.
For his part, counsel for Mrs Mould-Iddrisu, Nana Ato Dadzie, informed the PAC that his client would protest to the Speaker the treatment that the PAC had meted out to her.
He explained that since Mr Asiamah prejudiced proceedings of the committee on air to malign his client, she had every right to refuse responding to any question posed by Mr Asiamah, since she had realised that nothing could change his prejudiced mind.
Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana
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