STX Coffin Nailed• CEO Sacked

The hope of the Korea-based STX Engineering & Construction through its local affiliate, STX Engineering & Construction Ghana Limited, to build 200,000 housing units in the country, is becoming slimmer with the latest report of the dismissal of its chief executive officer, Bernard Kwabena Asamoah.

The boardroom wrangling, which has taken a better part of the deal since Ghana government committed itself to the agreement, took a different turn yesterday when the Koreans sacked B.K. Asamoah as the front man for the company.

A statement issued by the company read, 'Furthermore, please be informed that two criminal complaints and two civil lawsuits have been filed against B.K. Asamoah.'

Im-Dong Park, CEO and executive chairman of the company who signed the statement, said, 'On August 18, 2011, the Board of STX Engineering & Construction Ghana Limited has (sic) approved a resolution to remove Mr. B.K. Asamoah from the office of the Chief Executive Officer and Mr. George Padi from the office of the Deputy Chief Financial Officer.'

The release said that the company 'hereby notifies the public that Mr. B.K. Asamoah and Mr. George Padi do not have any rights to represent STX Engineering & Construction Ghana Limited in any action contract or agreement'.

'Therefore, any commitment, contract and/or agreement made by Mr. B.K Asamoah and Mr. George Padi are void and invalid,' it stressed.

President Atta Mills had probably predicted the demise of the company when during his state of the nation address last year, he said the Vice President who had been at the frontline of the project had travelled to Korea to 'nail the coffin' of STX.

Ever since, it has been one crisis after another, including the botched visit of the Korean President to Ghana to see the commencement of the multi-billion dollar project. The initial signing of the documents also suffered a set-back when at last minute, the signing ceremony was called off with no reasons offered.

DAILY GUIDE visited the company's Airport Residential Area premises yesterday evening when news broke that police had surrounded the place. Upon arrival, a police vehicle (GP 2524) with four personnel (two in plain-clothes and two wielding weapons) were seen on the compound.

When DAILY GUIDE entered the premises after going through security checks, the police vehicle quickly sped off.

DAILY GUIDE then offered to speak to the beleaguered CEO, B.K. Asamoah who was said to be 'upstairs' but the messenger (security man) returned with the response that he had declined any interview.

Daniel Jung, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the company, said the police entered the premises without any warrant and asked him to accompany them (police) to the police station.

'I first asked for their warrant and told them that I needed to come along with my lawyer.

They then left without arresting anybody.'
http://www.dailyguideghana.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/bk_asamoah_2.jpg

B. K. Asamoah with policemen at the STX premises yesterday

At the entrance of the company, a notice from the Board of STX which read, 'On August 18, 2011, the Board of STX Engineering & Construction Ghana Limited has (sic) approved a resolution to remove Mr. B.K. Asamoah from the office of the Chief Executive Officer and Mr. George Padi from the office of the Deputy Chief Financial Officer. They are not working in this office any longer,' had been posted there.

Until this decision was taken by the company, it had emerged that there was deep mistrust between the parent company, STX Korea and their Ghanaian counterparts, who had entered into a joint partnership to form STX Engineering & Construction Ghana Limited for the much-touted housing project first for the security services and the general public.

Government has already signed $1.5billion agreement with STX for 30,000 housing units for the security services.

But following the boardroom wrangling, the project has stalled ever since President Mills cut the sod on January 27, 2011 at the Tesano Police Training Depot, for the commencement of the construction work.

The relationship between the two entities became frosty immediately the government allegedly handed over the sovereign guarantee to B.K. Asamoah, who is credited for introducing the deal to the NDC government.

The Koreans have cried foul over the government's decision, claiming they were not consulted before the sovereign guarantee was handed to their former CEO, insisting, 'We (Koreans) got to read about the sovereign guarantee in the newspapers'.

Both the Koreans and their Ghanaian counterparts have for sometime remained tight-lipped on the raging issue.

'We have tried our best to get to President Mills directly for him to know what is happening but to no avail. Anytime we make the effort, they tell us to deal with the Vice President instead,' an STX source said.

'We realized that our message to the President is being truncated at the middle level that is why we are trying to reach him directly but our attempts have failed so far because we are always told to discuss issues with his deputies.'

The source said, 'We are even arranging for STX Chairman worldwide to meet Mills one-on-one but to no avail.'

Since the relationship between the partners became frosty, the Koreans have maintained that the arrangement of providing the housing units can only continue if Mr. Asamoah was kicked out of the deal. Anything less will see them packing out of the country.

However, the removal of Mr. B.K. Asamoah is going to complicate matters, considering the fact that he is the key person with links in government.

Recently, Mr. B.K. Asamoah was quoted in the state-owned Daily Graphic as saying that the project had not encountered any problems and promised that it would be executed within the scheduled period even though it was about eight months behind schedule.

He told the paper that there were no problems with funding as speculated and said the funding had already been secured. 'We are not raising the money to keep in the government's consolidated fund. We are raising the money to finance a project and at every phase money would be released,' he said.

STX Korea is supposed to lead the funding drive in Korea as contained in the agreement.

The issue of how much shares a partner of STX Engineering & Construction Ghana Limited owns has already compelled the STX Construction Company Limited, Korea, the parent company, to initiate legal action at an Accra Fast Track High Court against six respondents including Mr. B.K. Asamoah.

The suit, which was filed on July 26, 2011, cites G.K. Airports Company Limited; Joseph Bardolph Asafo-Boakye, a Director of STX Ghana, George Padi, Registrar-General as well as STX Engineering & Construction Company Ghana Limited as the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th respondents, with B.K. Asamoah as the 2nd respondent.

Even though Mr. B.K. Asamoah has indicated that the company is preparing the project sites including Kwabenya, Burma Camp and Tesano, all in Accra for the take-off, the Koreans, by this release, have clearly distanced themselves from it.

DAILY GUIDE investigations revealed that the Koreans raised serious objections against Mr. Asamoah's alleged decision to procure building materials from the United States which they claimed could last for 30 years when, under the agreement, the project's lifespan is only five years.

Additionally, the consulting architectural concept design allegedly being prepared by a professor at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) will cost the company about $21million when the Koreans insist they could do it for only $5million.

According to the source, whenever the issue of cost was raised, the employer (Government of Ghana) did not find any fault with it. Furthermore, there has not been any indication or proof of funding for the project.

According to the source, about 95 percent of Koreans brought into the country to start the project are said to have left while most of the Ghana staff have been told to go home.

By William Yaw Owusu