Member of Parliament's Finance Committee, Isaac Adongo says he is happy the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu zeroed in on the Transaction Advisor and how he was appointed.

According to Mr.Adongo, the outfit of the Finance Ministry assigned certain responsibilities to the Transaction Advisor that made him act as though the people of Ghana abdicated their responsibilities to him.

On the 6th of August 2018, under the instructions of the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, the Deputy Minister for Finance, Charles Adu Boahen, signed a Mandate Agreement with Imara TA to exclusively advise and assist the government on the transaction, as a Transaction Advisor (TA).

The Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central stated that he found it mind-boggling to learn that the appointment of the Transaction Advisor who is very central to the Agyapa deal was never part of the request put before parliament.

“We never had the opportunity to deal with the Transaction Advisor, that is the reason we abstained from the transaction because we didn’t have the right information to make the decision," he said.

Speaking with JoyNews' Evans Mensah, Isaac Adongo stated that the Ministry of Finance co-signed the responsibility of its entity tender committee to the Transaction Advisor, making the Advisor act as though they were in charge of the Ministry of Finance.

“The Transaction Advisor was at liberty to enter into whatever procurement contract on behalf of the State without going through the procurement activity, the procurement Law and without going through the Mandated Entity Tender Committee of the Ministry of Finance.

"The Transaction Advisor had become the spending officer in place of the Chief Director, so basically, the Transaction Advisor acted as though it was in charge of the Ministry of Finance, such that even if they put in a request for payment, it had to be paid.

“How on earth will you sign a contract with a transaction Advisor that sees the entire responsibility of the Ministry and sees the management operations of the Ministry which is supposed to be under the ambit of the Chief Director?" he asked.

The Special Prosecutor, Mr. Amidu in his corruption risk assessment of the controversial deal, argued that there was a reasonable suspicion of bid-rigging and corruption activity including the potential for illicit financial flows and money laundering in the process that led to the selection of the Transaction Advisor(s).

“The Transaction Advisor(s), whose selection and appointment by the Ministry of Finance did not measure up favourably to the analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment that meets the fundamentals of probity, transparency and accountability was/were potentially susceptible to undue influence, favouritism, cronyism, nepotism, and all forms of discrimination abhorred under the 1992 Constitution leading to the suspected packing of the services provider and underwriters position with entities not chosen on merit.” Mr. Amidu stated.

The Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta however says his outfit carried out due diligence with regards to the processes that led to the approval of the Agyapa Royalties Agreement in Parliament.