Tsatsu sues KT Hammond for defamation

Former Chief Executive of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Tsatsu Tsikata has sued Adansi Asokwa MP, K.T Hammond for defamation after he claimed Tsikata has been paid some monies to the tune of GHC1 million.

In a statement issued to the press on Sunday, Tsatsu Tsikata challenged the opposition NPP MP to back his claims with evidence.

The NPP MP has called for a Presidential enquiry into payment to four former GNPC employees which he believed is illegal

The four include Tsikata's wife Esther Cobbah who was Public Affairs Manager of the GNPC. According to KT Hammond, she received about 600,000 cedis. The others are another former Chief Executive, Nana Boakye Asafu-Adjaye and a former Field Evaluation and Development Manager, Mr. Benjamin Dagadu who is currently a deputy minister.

L-R: Nana Boakye Asafu-Adjaye,Tsatsu Tsikata, Esther Cobbah,Benjamin Dagadu

Mr Hammond, a former deputy Energy Minister, first raised the issue on the floor of Parliament during a debate on the 2016 budget.

According to him, information about the payment of the huge sums of money is contained in a letter written to Parliament by an unnamed man.

“Out of the money that has been allocated to GNPC, about one million cedis has been given to Mr Tsikata for free after having stayed away from anything to do with GNPC, government for about fifteen years,” KT told the House.

“It is a criminal activity and I am calling on the President, what does he know about it, when did he get to know about,”? he added

The GNPC in a statement last Monday confirmed the payments .

The Board maintained "the payment of the end-of-service benefits to these management personnel, who had made invaluable contributions to the development of the Corporation, is a valid obligation…however belatedly, is the right thing to do".

Tsikata and his wife have come out to deny receiving any payments . But the two have maintained they are owed some entitlements since they left GNPC in 2001.

The GNPC Board has had to meet Parliament's Committee on Mines and Energy to defend the payments.