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10.07.2013 General News

Joe Ghartey concludes testimony in Ghana Telecom case

By Daily Graphic
Joe Ghartey concludes testimony in Ghana Telecom case
10.07.2013 LISTEN

The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Joe Ghartey, last Monday concluded his testimony in the litigation involving the sale of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone Holdings BV at the Commercial Court and declared that the transaction over the deal was constitutional.

He told the court, presided over by Mrs Justice Gertrude Torkornoo during cross- examination that the Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) went through due process and accordingly ratified by Parliament.

But Mr Bright Akwetey, counsel for the plaintiffs, challenged Mr Ghartey, who was the Attorney-General at the time of the agreement in 2008, arguing that the Attorney General's Department did not draft the SPA.

He also said the regulations of the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) was breached since the sale was done through other institutions other than the DIC.

Mr Ghartey, however, disagreed, explaining that any other institution determined by the President could execute the transaction.

According to Mr Ghartey, the NCA, had in the agreement a letter which for him confirmed that the SPA did not flout any regulation.

Mr Akwetey pulled out a document and argued that the NCA was denied information about the deal until it was executed on July 3, 2013, but Mr Ghartey said he knew nothing about that.

Mr Ghartey said any issue bothering on the NCA in connection with the SPA could best be addressed by the then Minister of Communications because he had his limits in the whole transaction.

Touching on the cost of the transaction, Mr Akwetey stated that the government rather contracted the Ecobank Development Corporation to evaluate and negotiate the deal instead of the DIC.

He added that the advisers on the transaction valued the 70 per cent shares of Ghana Telecom at $1.613 billion but alleged that the advisers were dismissed by the government who took over the transaction and sold the property for $900 million.

According to him, the SPA that Parliament ratified was at variance with what the President approved and added that the SPA was executed before the President gave his approval.

Mr Ghartey, however, denied all those allegations.
The plaintiffs in the matter, Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa and five others, sued the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Ghana Telecommunications Company Limited and the Registrar General over the sale of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone.

The other plaintiffs, who are all members of the Convention People's Party (CPP), are Mr Michael Kosi Dedey, Dr Nii Moi Thompson, Naa Kordai Assimeh, Ms Rhodaline Imoru Ayarna and Mr Kwame Jantuah, and they are calling for a declaration that the sale of GT is inimical to the public interest.

They are seeking reliefs from the court, including a declaration that the agreement entered into by the government was not in accordance with due process of law and is, therefore, a nullity.

They are also requesting for an order declaring that the forcible grouping of autonomous state institutions established by law — Voltacom, Fibreco, VRA Fibre Network and VRA Fibre Assets — with GT to form the purported Enlarged GT Group was unlawful and, therefore, void and of no legal effect.

They are contending among others that the SPA entered into among the Government of Ghana, GT and Vodafone for the sale of 70 per cent of GT for $900 million was against the public interest and constituted an abuse of the discretionary powers of the government.

Hearing continues today.
By Sebastian Syme/Daily Graphic/Ghana

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