Bawumia lied about US$250m Eurobond saga - Financial analyst

Mr. Isaac Adongo, financial analyst and National Democratic Congress Parliamentary Candidate for the Bolgatanga Central Constituency, has lashed out at Vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia over 250 million dollars accusing him of peddling naked lies for political gains.

“It is very sad that an astute central banker and a renowned economist would engage in complete factually inaccurate presentation. He claims $250m was transferred in hard currency into a private bank by Govt. The amount was transferred in Ghana cedis to an account of GIIF. So where is the violation of BOG's mandate to manage foreign currency? The dollars are still with BOG”, he disclosed.

The financial analyst stated that Dr Bawumia claims that government was diverting US$250 million of the US$1.5 billion Eurobond issued last year to the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), which he claims is not in operation, to a private account in a private bank for election campaigns ahead of the November polls were nothing more than naked propaganda.

Speaking to The Republic, Mr Adongo said Dr Bawumia also lied through his teeth that the money was from the 2015 Eurobond funds and stated that the money was from 2014 bonds; adding, “he said the interest rate on the bond was 10.75 percent. This is also a naked lie because the rate is 8.5 percent. How could he get all 3 fundamental facts wrong?”

According to him, among other things, 250 million dollars was to be paid into the Ghana Infrastructure Investments Fund (GIIF) adding “when the money was released, the Minister of Finance ensured that the 250 million dollars was duly paid into the GIIF account with bank of Ghana (BOG)”.

“After 18 months, the Minister detected the amount was still seated idle in the BoG account without accruing any interest. The Minister of Finance has the responsibility under the laws of the land of ensuring that all government funds are prudently invested,” he told the Republic on Sunday.

He continued that the minister after broader consultation with the various stakeholders, including legal brains, he concluded that it was not prudent to keep the idle fund with BoG and ordered for the transfer of the idle fund from the BOG into one of the commercial accounts for the GIIF, so it could generate some returns.

The Parliamentary Candidate furthered stated that barely after 4 months, the 250 million dollars, accrued an interest of 23 million dollars for the GIIF and the government of Ghana. This, he said, means that if the money had been deposited there two years ago when it was released, it could have generated over 100 million dollars profit.

According to him, this is “legal and legitimate” because the interest of the nation was taken into consideration.

“The GIIF was established by an act of parliament with a mandate to leverage it's resources and attract investment from both domestic and international capital markets to finance badly needed expansion of infrastructure. Under the financial administration act, such corporate bodies are mandated to open one or more accounts with any bank in Ghana with the approval of the minister of finance. The act that Established GIIF also mandated it to open its own account and to manage its funds through its Board of Directors.

The $250m is its start up capital raised through the Eurobond. So, if it has opened its own account as directed by both the financial administrative act and the GIIF act, and its Funds have been transferred to it, what is the illegality? Keeping the Funds at BoG to manage for it when it has its Board of Directors and its own account would be to usurp the powers of GIIF and violate the act establishing it,” he noted