A section of the Ghanaian public played mischief with issues arising from the Chinese New Techniques Construction Investment Company (CNTCI) loan debacle, cynically christened “Salon Loan”, approved by parliament on April 13, 2004, Yaw Osafo Marfo, Senior Minister-designate, has said.
Mr Marfo, who was the Minister of Finance at the time the loan was approved, suffered severe backlash from some Ghanaians especially members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for failing to conduct due diligence after questions about the company’s identity arose and subsequently when the address it provided was traced to a beauty salon in the UK.
The General Secretary of the NDC at the time, the late Dr Josiah Aryeh, at a press conference in Accra had said: “The identity or identities of the lenders, the intricate corporate maze known as the CNTCI, the conflicting and confusing addresses and telephone/fax numbers, the concealment of critical conditions of the agreement from the Loan Agreement and from the documentation submitted to Parliament, including the issue of the bank guarantee and the sole-sourcing undertakings, all point to one thing. Something is wrong somewhere. Someone is not telling the truth to Ghanaians.
Mr Osafo Marfo also suffered similar flak in connection with a separate botched loan agreement with the IFC during the Kufuor administration.
The NDC at the time said it wrote to Interpol seeking assistance to unravel the mystery over the botched loan agreements. “Coming so soon after the IFC debacle, we must, as a country, take precaution against those who may be out to take this country for a ride.”
But responding to these issues during his vetting at the Appointments Committee sitting in Accra Friday January 20, Mr Marfo said: “The report we had on the IFC were positive, Barclays did it on our behalf because we were looking for a long-term finance.”
“But along the line we wanted to know the bank, where the money they intend to give us was located, because there should be evidence that you have the financial muscle to provide that type of loan.
“We then had difficulty getting that confirmation on location and payout and I came to parliament to say that in view of the difficulty we were getting on the location and the financial muscle even though we have positive reports, we were withdrawing that whole application.
“Some people were mischievous with the issue especially in the media and that worked for them.”
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
