The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has made known his intention to refer the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Ernest Addison, and his deputies to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) for investigation and possible prosecution.

The complaint will focus on corruption and corruption-related offences in relation to the award of a contract for the construction of a new head office building for the Bank of Ghana, the MP indicated in a letter to the Governor dated October 2.

Mr Ayariga indicated that the BoG failed to provide a proper response to his request for information pursuant to the Right to Information Request regarding the project’s cost, scope of work, bill of quantities and contract start and completion dates.

“I suspect that your team, in collusion with the contractors, overpriced the project with a possible view to obtaining personal gain. I reject your use of "national security considerations" as a reason to refuse to answer my questions properly,” part of the letter reads.

Mr Ayariga noted that although the bank provided information on the number of blocks and other facilities to be built in the new facility, they stopped short of providing information on the scope of work.

He noted that BoG had initially proposed a project cost of US$100.857,924.48 but the Public Procurement Authority reduced the estimated cost to USD81.882,640.00.

However, the project estimation moved from the initial cost to USD121,078.517.94 and then to US$222,799,760.55, he stated.

“Per your statement, the unit cost of a square meter of your scope of work is USD2,068.00. The project cost is now US$222.799,760,55. So, by simple arithmetic, we can easily calculate the scope of works and define it to be about 107.737sq.m. The briefing on the CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS PROJECT states clearly that the cost per square meter is the basis for determining the project cost.”

“When the scope of works of the project moved from 73,000sq.m to about 107.737sqm, we expect a corresponding change in the cost of the project. However, the variation in scope of work was about 36.9% but the project cost changed by 84%. The price moved from USD121,078,517.94 to USD222,799,760.55.”

Mr Agayriga believes that this un-corresponding change in the cost of the project, relative to the change in scope of works, is unreasonable adding it “can only be explained by suspected padding of project cost and corruption.”

“Your refusal to provide details to aid any understanding of the pricing reinforces my belief that massive corruption explains the shift in office project price from US$81.882640.00 to US$121,078.517.94 and then to US$222,799,760.55. Even more so when you yourselves initially proposed a price of US$100,857,924.48.”

“On the basis of the above analysis of the project cost change and given your cowardly decision to hide under the banner of "national security considerations" to refuse to provide adequate information which would have laid bare obvious corruption and overpricing of a public project. I am left with no other option but to report to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) what I believe to be a case of suspected "corruption and corruption-related offenses" under section 2(a) and 79 of The Office of Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959).”

The Bawku Central MP stated that he is determined to pursue the issue until the BoG comes clean. “This we do for the love of country and in pursuit of A Better Ghana.”

Read the full statement below:

Meanwhile, the Auditor General in its 2022 report has revealed the Bank of Ghana made payments worth $35,909,067.50 to Goldkey Properties Limited for the construction of a new corporate office in Tamale.

https://www.myjoyonline.com/bank-of-ghana-pays-property-developer-36m-during-ghanas-worst-forex-crunch-auditor-generals-report-reveals/

JoyNews checks reveal total amount of US$117,150,255.37 was paid to contractors for the period under review were compared with US$32,246,487.75 for the corresponding period of 2021, representing an increment of US$84,903,767.62 or 263.3%.