Hotel Kufuor: It's NIB not Prudential Bank

?NIB paid US$2 million, bought US$200,000 equity
?D. K. C. Gyimah again
?Prudential Bank did not fund the Hotel
?Its all a cover up, Ex-Governor J. S. Addo to speak up

"The Ghana Palaver" has always suspected that "Chief" John Addo Kufuor?s story that he put together a consortium of Banks to fund the purchase of the 7-storey, multi-million dollar, ultra-modern "Hotel Kufuor" situated adjacent to the private residence of President John Agyekum Kufuor, was a lie.

The way the father panicked, the way they organised the bunkum interview for Charles Sam to come and exhibit his ignorance, the way a military durbar was hurriedly arranged for the President and his brother to go and attempt some damage control which has backfired rather badly, the way "All The President?s Men" refused to come to the defence of the Hotel purchase except poor Paul Afoko who does not seem to understand that the music is changing and therefore continues to dance the same dance ? there was every signal that the Presidential household was jittery about "Chief" Kufuor?s very Ill-advised Press Release.

Now the lie is beginning to unravel, and Nixon?s Watergate may seem like chicken feed compared to what could happen in the "Hotel Kufuor" case and what is about to hit the unsuspecting public.

Our Information

Very credible information that "Ghana Palaver" has is that former Governor of Bank of Ghana J. S. Addo?s Prudential Bank may have nothing whatsoever or very little indeed to do with "Hotel Kufuor".

According to "Chief" John Addo Kufuor, the son of President Kufuor, he put together a consortium of Banks led by Prudential Bank to buy the hotel. Yet our information is that the name of Prudential Bank was only used as a diversion to cover up the truth as to what happened.

And the truth, according to our sources, is that the whole transaction was funded 100% by the state-owned National Investment Bank (NIB), whose Managing Director is; you guessed it, Daniel K. C. Gyimah of "UDS cannot award an Honorary degree to Jerry John Rawlings because of security considerations" fame.

According to our sources, NIB put up an amount of US$2 million and purchased US$200,000 equity in the Hotel. The transaction was put together using a private individual?s account at the NIB, and those at the Bank who know have been made to take the oath of "Omerta", the Mafia?s Code of Silence.

The Board Chairman?s Reaction

Last Sunday morning, Mr. Joojo Bruce Quansah, Editor of this paper reached the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NIB, Dr. Charles Jebuni, on telephone. He put the question to him directly: "We have information that NIB funded the Hotel at HIPC Junction next to President Kufuor?s house that has been purchased by the President?s son, "Chief" John Addo Kufuor. We understand the whole transaction was approved at a meeting of the Board of Directors chaired by you. We are coming out with the story on Tuesday, and we would like your comment on it for incorporation into our story".

According to Mr. Bruce Quansah, there was a slight pause at the other end and when Dr. Jebuni spoke, he pleaded Bank anonymity, saying that he could not comment on the transactions of a private individual account at the Bank. He was, however, prepared to cooperate with the Editor in respect of any other matters related to the Bank that he, the Editor was prepared to discuss.

Dr. Charles Jebuni is a very well respected Ghanaian economist. He lectures at the Department of Economics at the University of Ghana, is a Board member of the Bank of Ghana, and is a Senior Research Fellow at CEPA (Centre for Policy Analysis). Mr. Bruce Quansah therefore did not press him further.

All efforts to get Mr. D. K. C. Gyimah, the Managing Director of the NIB, to comment on our story however proved futile as we could not reach him on any of the telephone numbers we have for him.

?The Ghana Palaver? has very credible documentation on the transaction, but we are giving "Chief" seven days to come out with the true version of events involving the Hotel, otherwise he and his father President will not know what hit them as we shall tell all.

We are also calling on Dr. Charles Jebuni whom we respect a lot to tell the country what he knows about the true nature of the transaction in the spirit of accountability.

Prudential Bank?s J. S. Addo, as a former Governor of the Bank of Ghana, owes it to the prestigious position he once held, the staff he left behind, his country, and his conscience, to confirm or deny whether in fact, his Bank led a consortium of Banks to finance "Hotel Kufuor" or at least exactly what role his Bank played in the transaction.

As for D. K. C. Gyimah, we will only tell him this. As he did with the Jerry Rawlings UDS Honorary Doctorate Degree Award ceremony when he went into hiding and finally had to emerge from his rabbit hole like Saddam Hussein emerged from the sewerage system of Tikrit in Iraq, we assure him that this time too, he can run but he can?t hide"!