Minority: Govt Unable To Account For Over $100M Oil Cash

The Minority in Parliament has said the Akufo-Addo-led government is unable to account for more than $100 million accrued from Ghana’s Petroleum lifting in the first quarter of 2022.

A press statement from the Ranking Member on the Mines and Energy Committee, John Abdulai Jinapor said 944,164 barrels of crude lifting in the Jubilee and TEN fields were transferred to a company established outside Ghana without Parliamentary approval.

This, he finds a violation of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815) and Public Financial Management Act (Act 921).

Additionally, he said, “We have become aware that following the acquisition of a Seven per cent (7%) interest in the Occidental (Oxy) transaction in respect of the Jubilee and TEN Fields by the Government ostensibly for GNPC in 2021, the Minister of Finance has clandestinely ceded the shares to an offshore company known as JOHL (a company set-up in the Cayman Islands) in a very surreptitious and opaque manner”.

He added that “Capital Gains Tax was not assessed and collected by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in the sale of the 7% interest by Anadarko in the Jubilee and TEN Fields in 2021”.

The minority noted that this is confirmed by the 2022 semi-annual report on petroleum receipts by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC).

It finds it alarming that contrary to the requirements of the PRMA, revenues accruing from the nation’s oil fields are not being paid into the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF).

“This is surely another “Agyapa” deal in the making and we as a Minority will not sit aloof for this Government to raid the national purse, especially at a time when the nation is struggling to raise much-needed revenues for critical expenditure”, Jinapor stated and demanded that Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, “repatriate all such illegal transfer payments back into the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF)”.

“Failure to comply”, he threatened, “will compel the Minority to use the necessary parliamentary processes to haul the Minister of Finance to parliament for possible censure”.

Below Is The Full Statement:
For Immediate Release

29 -09- 2022

US$100 MILLION WORTH OF GHANA’S OIL MONEY MISSING – MINORITY RAISES CONCERN

The Minority in Parliament has noted with serious concern the inability or refusal of the Akuffo-Addo/Bawumia-led Government to account for over $100Million accruing from Ghana’s Petroleum lifting in the first quarter of 2022.

The decision by the current NPP Government to transfer revenues accruing from about 944,164bbls of crude lifting in the Jubilee and TEN fields to a company established in a safe haven (outside Ghana) without Parliamentary approval, amounts to a gross violation of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815) and Public Financial Management Act (Act 921).

We have become aware that following the acquisition of a Seven percent (7%) interest in the Occidental (Oxy) transaction in respect of the Jubilee and TEN Fields by the Government ostensibly for GNPC in 2021, the Minister of Finance has clandestinely ceded the shares to an offshore company known as JOHL (a company set-up in the Cayman Islands) in a very surreptitious and opaque manner.

The Minority is very much alarmed that contrary to requirements of the PRMA, revenues accruing from the nation’s oil fields are not being paid into the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF), which has been confirmed in the 2022 semi-annual report on petroleum receipts by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC).

As if this is not enough, the report further reveals that Capital Gains Tax was not assessed and collected by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in the sale of the 7% interest by Anadarko in the Jubilee and TEN Fields in 2021.

This NPP Government is proving by the day, that the nation’s oil resources cannot be entrusted in their care because not long ago the PIAC under the chairmanship of Dr. Steve Manteaw accused them over their inability to account for about GHȼ2 billion of Ghana’s oil cash for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 fiscal years.

This is surely another “Agyapa” deal in the making and we as a Minority will not sit aloof for this Government to raid the national purse, especially at a time when the nation is struggling to raise much needed revenues for critical expenditure.

We demand that the Minister of Finance and for that matter Government, must with immediate effect repatriate all such illegal transfer payments back into the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF).

Failure to comply with our ultimatum will compel the Minority to use the necessary parliamentary processes to haul the Minister of Finance to parliament for possible censure.

John Abdulai Jinapor (Ranking Member, Mines and Energy Committee)

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini