Former GIIF CEO established company on 'blind side' of Board for $2m payment - Court told

Former acting Board Secretary of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), Kofi Boakye, has told the High Court in Accra that Solomon Asamoah incorporated a company called Ghana Sky Train Limited on the “blind side” of the Board members to receive US$2 million from GIIF.

Boakye, testifying as the 2nd Prosecution Witness in the ongoing trial of two former state officials accused of misappropriating $2 million for the Sky Train Project, said he and the other board members were unaware of the company until confronted at the interrogation room of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB).

Solomon Asamoah, the former GIIF Chief Executive Officer, and Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, a former Board Chairman of GIIF, have been charged for their role in the dissipation of the $2 million state funds allocated to the Sky Train Project.

They have pleaded not guilty to a combined six counts, including conspiracy, wilfully causing financial loss to the Republic, and intentional dissipation of public funds, and have been granted bail.

Under further cross-examination by lead counsel for the 1st Accused Person, Victoria Barth, regarding his awareness of a concession agreement, an MOU, and other documents submitted to Board members, the witness answered in the negative, saying, “That is not correct. I have not seen the concession agreement and the MOU at our meetings.”

He added, “I only saw an MOU signed by the CEO at the interrogation room of NIB.”

“And I must also state that it was at the same venue that I saw a registration document on a company incorporated by the CEO on the blind side of all members of the Board, including the Board chairman! Apart from the CEO, none of us had any idea that a company by the name Accra Sky Train had been incorporated by the CEO,” he told the Court presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay on March 2, 2026.

Asked if he knew that the company incorporated by the CEO on the blind side of the Board had its sole shareholder as Ai Sky Train Consortium Holdings, the witness explained to the Court:

“My Lady, on one Friday, with all members of the Board and the CEO present in an interrogation room with NIB investigators, we were asked whether or not we knew anything about a company called Ghana Sky Train Limited.

“The investigators deferred the answering of this question to our next meeting day, which was the following Monday. On that Monday, the question whether or not we knew of any company by the name Ghana Sky Train Limited was directed at every member of the Board and the CEO,” PW2 told the Court.

“All members of the Board, including the Board Chair, told the investigators that they knew nothing about this company called Ghana Sky Train Limited. It was only the CEO who stated in the affirmative that he knew of the company.

“If my memory serves me right, from the MOU which I saw for the first time at the NIB offices, Ghana Sky Train Limited was mentioned somewhere in there.

“When GIIF gives approval to participate in projects, in some instances, new companies are incorporated and used as vehicles for project implementation.

“At all times, the Board is informed and made aware of the incorporation of these companies, and copies are kept or filed by the Secretary of GIIF, who collaborates with the various lawyers contracted for these services.

“And furthermore, in any company in which GIIF holds an equity stake, we ensure that a member of the Board is appointed to the Board of Directors. Nothing of this kind happened in respect of Ghana Sky Train Limited or, for that matter, Ai Sky Train Consortium Holdings, a company per Exhibit 31 registered in Mauritius.”

Revelation infuriated members

PW2 said, “Indeed, when it was revealed at our meeting before the NIB that a company by the name Ghana Sky Train Limited had been incorporated, some members of the Board were extremely infuriated and annoyed that the CEO had incorporated this company with himself as a director and another person, whom the CEO had recommended for approval as Secretary but was not successful, listed as the Secretary.

“It was his case that, in the minutes of June 25, 2019 (Exhibit 5, item 8.5), he read its content as follows: ‘The CEO informed members that he had been requested to serve as a board member of Cal Bank Ltd. Members expressed no objection to the appointment and accordingly congratulated the CEO.’

“However, he said, nothing of this kind, and no such information from the CEO that he had been appointed as a director of Ghana Sky Train Limited, was ever relayed or conveyed to the Board by the CEO.”