The Judgment Debt Commission last Wednesday heard how former Attorney-General Nana Akufo-Addo and his Deputy Gloria Akufo worked to prevent the payment of huge sums of money to Construction Pioneers (CP).
David Kwabena Ofosu-Dorte, Senior Partner of General Law Consult, now AB & David Law, whose firm was engaged as consultants by the Attorney General, gave mind-blowing testimony about how Ghana came to owe Construction Pioneers, popularly called CP, so much.
The Commission of Enquiry was appointed by President John Dramani Mahama after public uproar over the payments of inordinate payments termed as judgement debts.
Notable among them were payments made to CP (€ 94 million) and the never-ending case of GHc 51.2 million parted to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome.
Mr. Ofosu-Dorte told Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau of the Court of Appeal that then Attorney-General Nana Akufo-Addo and his Deputy Gloria Akufo must be commended for doing their best to ensure that CP did not shortchange Ghana in the arbitration process.
James Quarshie Factor
He specifically mentioned Mr. James Quarshie, a director of special duties at the Ministry of Finance who, he said, frequently interfered in the CP case, adding, “He operated outside the AG’s office and managed to frustrate the process.
“Ms Gloria Akufo is one minister worth commending. She went to court on the basis of the fact that the MoU the government had signed with CP had said that the matters should be held before a court in Ghana. Secondly, together with Nana Akufo-Addo, they were pursuing parallel negotiations with CP and that went far.
“To the best of my recollection, at some point, settlement was done at a figure that I cannot recall, but it was definitely several times less than I have heard in public was paid. The reason why I say so was that that settlement included the CP’s admission of the set offs.
“Professionally, I think the AG’s office, if there was any job they did well, then it was this CP case. They were doing a very good job but I am aware that James Quarshie made their work almost impossible,” Mr. Ofosu- Dorte underscored.