Head of Delegation of the EU to Ghana, Ambassador Diana Acconcia
Contrary to claims by some opposition elements, it has emerged that it is not true that Ghana has been blacklisted by the European Union (EU) for engaging in money laundering.
The EU says there is no evidence of money laundering on the part of any official of the current administration.
Throwing more light on why the country was blacklisted back in May 2020, the Head of Delegation of the EU to Ghana, Ambassador Diana Acconcia, said Ghana ended up on the list because it failed to comply with checks that could forestall possible money laundering.
“There is no evidence of money laundering in Ghana,” Ambassador Acconcia stressed.
According to her, the EU would have ceased doing business with the Akufo-Addo administration if any of his appointees had been caught engaging in money laundering or funding terrorist operations.
Belgium bank
Recently, reports were rife that Ghana’s Embassy in Brussels, Belgium, had been ordered by its banker to withdraw all its money so that the bank would proceed to close the Embassy’s accounts.
The ING Bank has not given any reason for the decision to close the Embassy’s accounts, but says the decision is irreversible. The Embassy has up to November 12, 2020, to withdraw all its money to another bank. Ghana’s Mission in Brussels has four accounts with the bank.
Reacting to the report, Ambassador Acconcia said it has nothing to do with Ghana being blacklisted, adding it was purely a business decision on the part of the bank.
“The fact that the account of the Embassy of Ghana in Belgium and the European Union has been closed by a Belgium Bank, that was a business decision taken by the bank. The bank was not at all obliged by the EU to close the account of the Embassy,” Ambassador Acconcia told Asaase Radio yesterday.
She added: “It was a business decision to apply more checks to the Embassy. The listing does not affect trade, development aid, and there will be no problem in paying the budgetary support and the main projects we have in Ghana…. Ghana is doing a lot already because there is the Financial Intelligence Centre at the central bank, among others, to check some of these things.”
Ambassador Acconcia remarked that to prove that Ghana remains one of the key partners in development, the EU is advancing a whopping 87 million Euros to the government as grant to alleviate the plight caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
No gov’t official arrested
Meanwhile, the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has said it is untrue that any government official has been arrested with £26 million in the UK.
He added that it is also untrue that British authorities have intercepted a haul of cash from Ghana to the UK.
Speaking on Takoradi-based Skyy Power FM yesterday, the Minister accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of fabricating the news as part of their planned propaganda ahead of the December polls.
According to him, as the country draws closer to the December polls, the opposition NDC will deploy all manner of propaganda tools in a desperate bid to sway voters, pointing to the substantive matter as one of such propaganda techniques.
“It is a total fabrication, and we are clear in our minds that it is a fabrication by the NDC and it is part of their strategy for these last eight weeks where they will be churning out a lot of fabrication, lies and fake audiotapes.
“We are clear in our minds that it is the NDC, for one or two reasons. The first person to articulate it publicly is Inusah Fusieni, NDC MP for Tamale Central,” he said.
The MP, who is a lawyer, has admitted he did not verify the authenticity of the report before circulating it.
“They are the ones who are championing it and articulating it on their online media platforms, including Radio Gold online. And now you can also find that there is a fake audiotape that purports to be a piece of international news broadcast on it which is being circulated since last night,” the Information Minister said.
Source: dailystatesman.com.gh/Richard Boahen
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