Haruna Iddrisu Playing Smart On PDS Scandal

The Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, is coming across as playing smart over the scandal that led to the suspension of the concession agreement between the government of Ghana and the Power Distribution Services (PDS) Limited.

On the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, he called for a full-scale Parliamentary probe into the suspension of the concession agreement between the government and the PDS Limited, this is in spite the fact that his name, had emerged many times during The Herald’s investigations into the scandal which started in February, last year.

Firstly, Lawyer Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer, whose involvement in PDS as director, lawyer and secretary to director of TG Energy Solutions Ghana; one of the companies involved in the deal, which The Herald, had established during the paper’s investigations, first mentioned the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu.

According to the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sekondi in the Western Region, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, had accosted him in Parliament and questioned him on a possible conflict of interest situation, because of his involvement in TG Energy Solution Ghana.

The second person involved in the deal to have mentioned the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu’s name, was, David Nana Yaw Asare, who had identified himself to The Herald, as the owner of TG Energy Solutions Ghana, as being in contact with the Minority Leader and adequately briefed him on the deal.

David Asare, whose ownership of the TG Solution, Philip Ayensu of X-men barbershop at East Legon – Accra, had also in another interview sought to dispute the story, told The Herald there had been many engagements with the Minority Leader, long before the Tuesday July 24, 2018 Parliamentary approval of the concession.

Interestingly, Lawyer Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer sat in Parliament as an MP to approve a deal in which he stood to gain financially as director, secretary and lawyer and secretary of TG Energy Solutions Ghana, but his role was never mentioned by the Minority Leader.

The third person to have mentioned the Minority Leader’s knowledge of the activities with the PDS was Joseph Kwabena Aidoo, who owns Santa Power Limited with 13percent stake in PDS. He also mentioned engagements with the Minority leader on the deal.

It is not clear what the Minority Leader did with all the information provided him by the parties involved in the transaction, especially on their financial obligations and expertise in managing the ECG assets which are at the heart of the suspension, but speaking on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, Mr Iddrisu, said the probe was in order to unearth the full facts surrounding the suspension.

Interestingly, David Nana Yaw Asare, during the interview with The Herald, admitted TG Energy Solutions Ghana, had no financial muscle to invest in ECG, but hoped to use the assets of the state power provider to raise the needed funds to pay his part of the deal.

He told The Herald shortly after Parliamentary approval that ECG makes millions of cedis every day, and financial institutions will be more than willing to give out money to anyone involved in the concession.

Haruna Iddrisu’s demand follows the Information Ministry’s announcement that the Akufo-Addo government, has suspended the agreement following the detection of fundamental and material breaches of PDS’ obligation in the provision of Payment Securities (Demand Guarantees) for the transaction, which has been discovered upon further due diligence.

“The Demand Guarantees were key prerequisites for the lease of assets on 1st March 2019 to secure the assets that were transferred to the concessionaire. The government is conducting a full enquiry into the matter, and the outcome will inform the next course of action,” the statement said.

The Energy Minister, Peter Amewu, later told Citi Business News, initial investigations conducted by the government, has established that a document that was presented by PDS as a guarantee for the takeover of ECG was forged.

The minister explained that even though the document indicated that a company in Qatar had guaranteed for PDS, the management of the company told the government of Ghana it had no knowledge of the document.

Mr Amewu stated that the government would prosecute anyone found to have engaged in the fraudulent act.