We went to Dubai to negotiate, not investigate – Addison

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Chairman of the Committee tasked to investigate the Ameri Power deal, Phillip Addison has denied claims that it was influenced by the Power Company in the course of the probe.

Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana programme on Tuesday, Mr Addison said he was baffled at the speculations.

The Committee has come under intense criticism for allegedly accepting money from the company during its visit to Dubai.

The 17-member committee was constituted by Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko following arguments and media publications insisting that the AMERI Power deal was overpriced by at least $150 million.

After its investigations, it revealed in a report that AMERI in the agreement dated February 10th, 2015, charged Ghana significantly higher than what it was charged by the Turkish registered company, PPR, which financed and executed the project.

Although the Turkish firm charged $360 million for the project which is to span over a five-year period, the Build, Operate Own Transfer (BOOT) agreement signed between the Ghana government and AMERI was pegged at a minimum of $510 million.

It, therefore, recommended, that the deal be renegotiated or abrogated by government on the grounds of fraud.

The Committee’s work has been overshadowed by criticisms that the findings and recommendations could not be taken seriously since the members were sponsored by AMERI to Dubai as part of there investigations.

But Mr Addison said the Committee did not go to Dubai to investigate Ameri, it rather went to negotiate.

“I keep reading and hearing, ‘they were supposed to investigate AMERI’, no, we were not going to investigate AMERI.

“We were going to have negotiations, not investigations and there was no antagonistic relationship so they freely offered to pick up the bill,” he said.

The lawyer said he does not understand why “so much noise” is being made about the Committee’s work and the Power Company’s involvement in funding the trip.

“Here we are saying that AMERI owes us close to $200 million, so if it is that they pick up a bill for tickets and hotel, how much will that amount to that it becomes an issue,” he queried.

He also denied that the Committee’s work was influenced because of the Power Company’s sponsorship.

Mr Addison said all allowances and per diems were paid by the Energy Minister when the Committee arrived in Ghana.

Source: myjoyonline.com