Betty Mould Denies DM248m Tax Waiver Claims

A former Minister of Education, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, has denied ever granting any tax waiver to CP under a Settlement Agreement when she was in office as Attorney General. In a statement issued by her solicitors, Dadzie and Associates, the former Attorney General said she handled the Settlement Agreement signed between the construction firm and the Government of Ghana professionally thus claims that her actions led to a loss of 248 million Deutche Marks are false. Below is the full statement: We act as counsel for Mrs. Betty Mould � Iddrisu, former Attorney General and Minister for Justice and until recently, the Minister for Education. We have her instructions to state that recent media reportage of the Parliamentary Accounts Committee proceedings regarding an alleged tax waiver to CP Construction Pioneers (CP) contained in the Settlement Agreement with the Government of Ghana and especially �The Chronicle� front page story dated 22nd March 2012 and headed �BETTY CAUSES LOSS OF 248 MILLION DEUTCHE MARKS� is misleading and false. Our client vehemently denies that in her position as Attorney General she ever granted any waiver of taxes to CP under the Settlement Agreement signed between CP and Government of Ghana. 1. Our client states emphatically that not one word or sentence in the Settlement Agreement exempts or grants waiver of taxes to CP. 2. No objective, full and complete reading of the Settlement Agreement can lead to the conclusion that our client granted CP any tax waivers. It is trite law that in the interpretation of statues and documents �... a document must be read as a whole�. Indeed it is unacceptable in law to read a fragment or section of a document and draw general conclusions therefrom. 3. Section (6) of The Terms of Settlement Agreement reinforces the validity of any claim(s) arising under the terms of the Agreement which of course may include legitimate tax obligation due from CP. 4. From the above, it is clear that the Chronicle�s statement that: �Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, many expected, should have supported the IRS to retrieve the money, but for reasons known to herself, waived all the taxes without Parliamentary approval, and went ahead to agree to the 94 million Euros payment to CP� is wrong factually and in law. 5. Our client wishes to re-iterate that she at all material times exercised due diligence in the performance of her duties as Attorney General and Minister for Justice. Solicitors for Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu