Tsikata coming down to answer allegations
Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), has decided to cut short his visit to Norway to answer allegations of financial impropriety made against him by the government.
Mr. Tsikata, who telephoned the offices of the Daily Graphic yesterday after a copy of the publication was made available to him by some friends in Europe, said he left Accra last Saturday to attend to some personal matters.
He said he would return to Ghana within two weeks to state his side of the case.
Asked to respond to some of the allegations levelled against him, he explained that the matters raised in the publication are too serious to deal with in a telephone conversation.
He expressed surprise at rumours circulating in certain quarters that he is on the run.
Mr. Tsikata gave the assurance that at the appropriate time, he would respond to the issues raised by the government.
Following the allegations of impropriety levelled against him at a news conference by Mr. Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of Energy last Tuesday, the Graphic made efforts to contact him but to no avail.
Last Tuesday, Mr. Kan-Dapaah ordered a forensic audit into the activities of the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC), which led to the loss of $47 million to the state.
The investigations will be carried out in eight weeks within the framework of the law, after which a report will be submitted to the Attorney-General's Office for advice.
He did not disclose the name of the firm, which will carry out the audit, but gave the assurance that it would be a reputable local company.
Mr. Kan-Dapaah explained that the government decided to sell the GNPC drill ship The Discoverer to pay the debt incurred by GNPC, under the leadership of Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, in hedging dealings with a French commodity bank, Societe General, in 1996.
According to the Energy Minister, Mr. Tsikata presented himself to the bank as "a commercial, legally trained businessman, sophisticated in terms of his understanding of derivative trading and the theory behind how derivatives work and how they can be used."
He said Mr. Tsikata also informed the bank that GNPC traded in derivatives, and was keen to transact business with the bank.
Mr. Kan-Dapaah further stated that in very complex hedging transactions with the bank, which started in October, 1996, Mr. Tsikata was paid either a premium of the bank, or he paid the bank certain sums of money, depending on whether or not the market price of oil stayed below or above the predicted price.