British Envoy clears Gov`t on $1.3m compensation

John Hardy, the lead prosecutor in the Mabey and Johnson case has been handed an onus responsibility to put up hard core evidence to prove his allegation that government indeed received $1.3m compensation from the UK government, as emerging developments point to the opposite of his claims.

Mr. Hardy had made claims at a recent public lecture that Ghana's representatives at the country's High Commission in the United Kindom went for an amount of $1.3m from Mabey and Johnson as reparation to the government of Ghana.

But the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Dr Nicholas Westcott, has stated that although Mabey & Johnson, as part of the conclusion of the court case in the UK, made available a sum of money as compensation following the alleged bribery of some Ghanaian officials, that money has not up to now been paid to the Government of Ghana.

His response followed governments request to the commission to provide details on when, how and who the said money was received by government.

Dr Nicholas Westcott had confirmed that the money had not been released as “It is for the Government of Ghana to indicate whether it wishes to receive the money or not”. A statement issued by the Minister for Information, John Tia Akologu, stated in Accra yesterday.

The British High Commissioner also distanced itself from the allegations made by Mr. John Hardy QC, when he (High Commissioner), in a telephone conversation with the deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa clarified that “John Hardy QC, who visited Ghana last week, spoke on this subject purely in his capacity as a private lawyer involved with the case.”

Mr. Hardy, according to Dr. Westcott, is neither an official of the British Serious Fraud Office (SFO) nor the British Government and was expressing his personal views, not those of the Government.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa also emphasized that government would neither engage in the business of ditching its citizens who are yet to clear their names in the Mabey & Johnson scandal by jumping the gun nor cheapen itself for the compensation money.

He said government's initial interest is to establish the facts and set the records straight that it did not deceive the good people of Ghana when it stated that government had not gone the said money.