Indian politician in trouble over rice exports to Ghana

An Indian politician who was the country’s former Commerce Minister is in trouble over the export of rice worth 2,500 crore, equivalent to about US$508 million to Ghana at the height of the global food crisis, the Indian media has reported.

The Ghana government is asking the Indian government to investigate the former minister and Congress leader Kamal Nath over his involvement in exporting the rice to Ghana.

According to the reports the Commerce Ministry last year recommended the export 225,000 tonnes of non-basmati rice to 22 “friendly and needy” African countries, including Ghana, though the government was fighting a food crisis and there was a ban on export of grain.

P. Chidambaram, who was the Finance Minister then, had opposed the Commerce Ministry’s recommendation but the imports were eventually allowed.

The Ghanaian government now alleges a scam of Rs 2,500 crore (US$508m) took place when private companies, which handled the rice shipments, diverted the grain for profits.

As a result a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Akwasi Osei-Adjei, and the former Managing Director of the National Investment Bank (NIB), Daniel Charles Gyimah, are facing criminal charges for contravening the Public Procurement Act, and in the process, causing a financial loss of US$1,408,590 (GH¢1,524,952) to the state, in the various roles they played in the importation of some 15,000 metric tonnes (300,000 bags) of rice for the Government of Ghana in 2008 from India, the Ghanaian media has reported. By