The fact-finding committee constituted by the Speaker of Parliament to look into allegations leveled at the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta, yesterday had its second public hearing.
The committee seeks to unravel the truth behind the allegation regarding the payment of some millions of dollars into an offshore account in the name of Jubilee Oil Holding Limited (JOHL), a known subsidiary of the Ghana National Petroleum Commission (GNPC) .
The minority in its motion paper described these payments sanctioned by the Finance Ministry as illegal, saying it contravenes the Petroleum Revenue Management Act of Parliament.
The basis for this allegation upon which they seek to call for the head of the Finance Minister is contained in the PIAC report for 2021. In view of the above, it was necessary for officials from PIAC to face the committee to update them with the facts regarding the issues they raised in their report.
The Vice Chair of the committee, Mr. Nasiru Alfa Mohammed, led the team from PIAC to provide answers to questions asked by the members of the committee.
The team from GNPC, led by it Deputy Chief Executive, Mr. Joseph Painstil, took their turn to provide clarifications to certain issues raised in the PIAC report to the satisfaction of the committee.
Miss Adwoa Wiafe, the Legal Manager of GNPC, took the opportunity to highlight the legal justification for some of the Corporation’s decisions which were described as “controversial” in the PIAC’s report.
The 8-member ad-hoc committee discharged officials from these institutions after several hours of interrogations.
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