Jaguar Owes Ghana@50 GH¢1m

Fairllop International Limited, a luxury vehicle dealer in the country, is owing Government over GH¢1 million for 35 Jaguar saloon cars it purchased from the Ghana@50 Secretariat after the Jubilee celebrations.

Incidentally, the company which sold the vehicles to the Secretariat in 2007 for the 50th anniversary opted to buy back 35 of the 40 it supplied, based upon an advertisement by the secretariat offering to sell out the vehicles.

Eric Agyemang, Fairllop's Managing Director, who was testifying at the Ghana@50 Commission of Inquiry on Thursday said the company had not been able to pay for the vehicles because it (Fairllop) had encountered “certain difficulties”, since December last year, that had hindered the sale of the vehicles to offset the company's debts to Government.

Asked by the Commission what the nature of the difficulty that prevented the sale of the vehicles was, Agyemang said the furor that characterized the transition process after the 2008 election had made people apprehensive of buying the vehicles.

He said the company, which had never dealt in second-hand vehicles, also found it extremely difficult to sell the vehicles because those who had the money to purchase such luxury cars preferred to buy brand new ones.

 Giving a background on the whole deal, Agyemang said that in 2006, the Secretariat, at a meeting with car dealers, asked Fairllop to submit a proposal for the supply of 40 Jaguar saloon cars for the jubilee celebration.

Subsequently, Fairllop sent a memorandum to the Secretariat, stating interest in the transaction, after which the Secretariat requested the company to supply the vehicles.

He said the contractual agreement was that the Secretariat was to make a 50 percent down payment of the cost of the vehicles and spread the rest over a period of 12 months, which the secretariat observed after taking custody of the automobiles and paid the remainder in May 2008.

However, Agyemang claimed that the Secretariat was also indebted to the company to the tune of 93,684 dollars on the price of the vehicles, explaining that the Secretariat made the initial 50 percent payment in dollars but subsequent payments were made in Ghana Cedis, which made Fairllop register the shortfall as a result of exchange rate differentials.

 When Justice Duose asked Agyemang to subtract what he claimed the Secretariat owed from what Fairllop owed government, he said the difference his company would give to government would be $908,000.

Thus, Justice Duose asked Fairllop to pay back what it owed government or take steps to negotiate on terms to settle the debt.

 Paul Pepera, Managing Director of PHC Motors, who also accounted for his company's involvement with the Secretariat, said that on April 11, 2006, PHC received a letter from the Office of the President requesting them to supply 35 Chrysler 300 saloon cars for the Jubilee celebration.

 He said that after an agreement was reached, PHC made a delivery of the cars to the secretariat in January 2007, after an initial payment of 40 percent of the price of the vehicles was made in November 2006.The secretariat also paid outstanding balance on the contract to PHC.

When Pepera was asked during cross examination whether PHC went through the appropriate tendering process, he said the company made a quotation to the Secretariat and won the bid.

By Sheilla Sackey