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Deputy Central Regional Minister, Aquinas Tawiah Quansah says the contractual agreement under which some 57. 2 million Ghana cedis loan was secured by brother of President Mahama was done in 2007 at the time when the NPP was in power. This revelation comes in the wake of an accusation by the NPP that the President played a vital role in securing the loan for his brother, Ibrahim Mahama in his company�s name, Engineers and Planners Limited. The loan which represents 19.1 per cent of the total debt of Merchant Bank, according to the NPP, has led to the collapse and gradual sale of the Merchant Bank to First Rand of South Africa. The issue became topical during e.tv Ghana�s Breakfast TV when NPP Member of Parliament for Asante-Mampong, Mr Francis Addai-Nimoh and the Deputy Central Regional Minister took their seats in the studio. When Mr Addai-Nimoh was asked his take on the matter, he accused the NDC government of corruption and questioned the credibility of the government. He also accused the NDC for being hypocrites relating it to the time when son of ex-president Kufuor secured and purchased the African Regent Hotel. �How can we be that reckless in this kind of arrangement if it is not on corruption? On what basis did the NDC accuse former president Kufuor when his son as a business man was able to raise his money to secure and purchase African Regeant Hotel?� he questioned. According to him, Ibrahim Mahama was able to secure the loan because of the ties he has with the sitting president, President John Dramani Mahama. He said, �how could he have secured that facility of 57.2 million Ghana cedis perhaps without some facilitation or influence by his brother, whether Vice President or his position as the sitting president.� However, in a quick rebuttal, the Deputy Central Regional Minister, Mr Aquinas Quansah set straight the records, noting that, the loan contraction was acquired in 2007 when the NPP was then in power. According to him, �This loan was contracted in September 2007 and at that time President Mahama was an MP, Kufuor was the president of this country and that was when the loan was given.� �So, if you sit here today and say that because his brother was either a Vice President or President that drew in some influences and that was how he got the loan, you got it all wrong! You don�t know anything about that loan. "NPP doesn�t know anything about that loan. If they are talking about the man getting the loan through corrupt means then they should go and hold president Kufuor for it because this loan came in 2007,� he added. He explained that due to the type of loan that was being secured, an LC account was opened in the name of Engineers and Planners to buy equipment for the company. He said, �The loan wasn�t cash driven, it was LC driven. Somebody approached a bank, said look I have a job of this magnitude can you open an LC for me so I can buy my equipment. It wasn�t even money that was given the man. It was an LC that was open to buy the equipment.�