I didn't take any bribe- Mpiani

A former Chief of Staff and Minister of Presidential Affairs under the erstwhile Kufuor-led government, Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani has categorically debunked allegations that he met one Dan Markin to negotiate for the payment of some money the Government of Ghana owed Rockshell.

“I never met Dan Markin and in fact it would be practically impossible for me to make him out when he stands before me”, Mr. Mpiani disclosed to The New Crusading GUIDE in an interview over the weekend.


According to him, apart from the fact that he never met Mr. Markin whiles as the Chief of Staff, he never negotiated with anybody relative to the settlement of the now controversial Rockshell matter.


“If anybody says I made a demand for any amount of money or a percentage as a condition for the settlement of that matter, he should prove it. As a Chief of Staff, that was not my mandate”, he stated.


The only time Mr. Mpiani said he met an official of Rockshell was when “one Dr. Tei in the company of a friend of mine, Dr. Eshun met me to talk about an outstanding payment to Delta Foods for food supplied to the Ministry ofAgriculture. He wanted me to arrange for him to meet the President. After that, I did not hear from them again. Though Dr. Tei mentioned the outstanding payment in passing, that was not the subject matter for our discussion”.


He answered in the negative when he was asked whether he knew that such a matter was pending in court but stated that, “I only got to know about this particular case in the media last week and I was very surprised about the diabolical media spin being put on it”.


“Fortunately”, Mr. Mpiani continued, “I have laid hands on the court ruling and it is just pathetic that people who are supposed to know better have been jumping from radio station to radio station making ridiculous interpretations”.

“I never met Mr. Markin and neither did I meet anybody to negotiate the Rockshell settlement. It is a complete fabrication”, Mr. Mpiani reiterated.


Mr. Markin who currently serves as the Board Chairman of the Ghana Railway Development Authority is alleged to have negotiated the bribe on behalf of former Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, late Finance Minister, Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu and then Foreign Affairs Minister, Nana Akufo-Addo, for the payment of monies owed Rockshell.


Dan Markin allegedly led UNIEX, a financial and brokerage firm to sign an agreement of 50 % ‘bribe’ with Rockshell, for the settlement of the long standing litigation. Since portions of the court ruling were first published by The Enquirer Newspaper last week Monday, there have been clamours for Mr. Mpiani and Nana Akufo-Addo to be investigated over the matter.


The Convener of the Forum for Governance and Justice, Dr. Clement Apaak, the head of Monitoring and Evaluation at the Presidency Dr. Tony Aidoo, among others, have all called for probes into the allegation.


Meanwhile, Mr. Markin has categorically denied ever making demands for bribe on behalf of Mr. Mpiani, Nana Akufo -Addo or the late Kwadwo Baah -Wiredu.