GH¢74.5m saga: If Stanbic bank offered best terms to SADA, fair deal - Mahama Ayariga
Charges of conflict of interest being leveled against the Board Chairman of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority in relation to SADA's investment of GH¢74, 500,000 at Stanbic Bank are moot.
Minister for Information and Media Relations, Mahama Ayariga, says the charges against SADA's Board Chairman, Mr. Alhassan Andani, who is also the Managing Director of Stanbic Bank, would be misplaced if there is proof the SADA obtained the best returns on the investment.
“If Stanbic was offering them (SADA) the best terms relative to all other banks, irrespective of the fact that the Chairman of the Board of SADA and also the CEO of Stanbic, I think that prudence will require that go to” Stanbic Bank, he explained.
JoyNews investigations by Manasseh Azure Awuni have revealed that an amount of GH¢74.5 million, 51 million more than the 23 million allocated to SADA was invested in a call account at the Stanbic Bank.
Auditors say there is no tangible evidence of investment and question the investment decision itself, postulating that the Authority, set up to coordinate a programme of action to bridge the development gap between the northern and southern parts of the country, could get better returns if the money was invested in fixed deposits.
It also been suggested that the investment is steeped in conflict of interest because the Board Chairman of SADA is also the MD of Stanbic Bank.
A Code of Conduct for Pubic Officers launched by President John Mahama last year enjoins “public officer to endeavour to avoid being in a position in which personal interest conflicts with the public officer's official functions.”
Clause 29 of the code “prohibits a public officer from official participation in a matter in which the public officer has a financial interest or a spouse or other relative of the public officer has a financial interest.”
But Mr. Ayariga says the SADA/Stanbic deal does not fall within the ambit of conflict of interest.
In Mr. Andani's capacity as “Chairman of the Board of SADA, I would expect him to put making money above the issue of whether or not he is the CEO of Stanbic.”
What is important, he argued, “is the procedures leading to the choice of Stanbic” as the bank to invest the money in.
“If the procedures in fairness give every other bank a fair opportunity to engage with SADA,” Mr. Ayariga insisted, and the Stanbic was ultimately the best, then there was nothing wrong with SADA investing the money in Stanbic's call account.