Close to five weeks after his meeting with government officials in Germany, the only publicly known member of the International Finance Consortium (IFC) and president of Chemac Inc, Horst Schneider says his organisation’s lips have been sealed on the controversial $1bn loan to Ghana.
He also says it is the duty and responsibility of the Kufuor administration to speak on the controversial loan not him.
“Your government must tell you this, not me. If your government tells you, fine. We are a private consortium and our mouths have been sealed,” Schneider told the “National Concord in Florida.
Schneider’s remarks deviate from his earlier promise to explain issues on the controversial loan after his return from the meeting with government officials led by Senior Minister, John Henry Mensah.
Schneider, who spoke after he returned a phone call to his office, nearly backed out of the agreed interview that was made subsequent to his meeting with the Ghanaian officials.
But after this reporter had pressed home the need for him to explain the issues, he agreed to grant the interview by the end of this month. He claimed he would be traveling to meet officials of other countries to arrange for similar IFC loans and that he and his partner might meet Ghanaian officials later on the proposed loan.
Meantime, officials of the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC in subsequent interviews a fortnight ago, reiterated the Bank’s earlier statement on the IFC and the controversial loan, saying the bank has no dealings with the IFC.
After weeks of waiting for the return of vacationing officers of the bank to speak, on the issue, the Concord said, “World Bank Country Programme Director for Ghana, Nicola Dyer, said last week that the position of the bank in its statement hasn’t changed. She said the bank is holding talks with the Ghanaian government on the issue.
Ms. Dyer is expected to travel to Accra by the end of this month to follow up discussions on the issue and to prepare the ground for the assumption of office of Mr. Peter Harrold’s successor.
Despite its claims of a credible lending history and statements by Ghanaian officials that it has the endorsement of the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Bank statement on the IFC issued last month indicated that it is yet to learn of the IFC from Ghana.
“…The World Bank has no dealings with nor direct knowledge of the International Finance Consortium. We are pursuing inquiries with the Ghanaian authorities about the details of this possible transaction,” the statement said.
“Contacts with the bank including the office of the bank’s vice-president for External Affairs and various officers last month, saw the same statement being reiterated”.
The Parliament approved loan agreement requires Schneider’s IFC, which is different from the widely recognised and respected International Finance Consortium (IFC), the private sector lending arm of the World Bank Group, to provide Ghana an investment capital of $1bn repayable over 25 years at an annual interest rate of 2.5 per cent.
The loan agreement has been the subject of serious controversy for weeks following statements about the IFC, which have turned out to be false.
There is almost no public record available on the IFC in the US to lend credence to the claims it makes. Claims that major American companies like Chemac Inc are behind it have also turned out to be empty.
Chemac is in fact a small sales and service family company not listed among companies on the northern New Jersey (NJ) database of 18,211 companies on Better Business Bureau (BBB), a credible index of corporate America.
“Neither Chemac, which has only two offices across the 52 states in the US, nor the IFC is on the ivy league of major business enterprises in the US. Chemac’s only other office is in Houston, Texas. Chris Schneider, a son of Horst Schneider, heads the Houston office”.
In a related development, Concord reports that its investigations and documentary evidence available indicate that at the time the loan agreement was passed by Parliament in July this year after initial clearance by the Finance Committee of Parliament, the Bank of Ghana had not completed its due diligence check on the consortium.
The only information about the consortium that was made available was the Curriculum Vitae (CV) of two of its board members.
The Bank of Ghana (BOG), which is responsible for investigating the background of the consortium, did not complete its work before the Minister for Finance brought the agreement to the floor of the august House for approval.
As at the time Parliament was going on recess, the Bank of Ghana was still making frantic efforts to obtain relevant information on IFC from Dun and Bradstreet, a high profile United States based establishment reputed for its due diligence work.
Dun and Bradstreet, according to Concord’s authoritative sources, could have furnished the government with the due diligence report in 48 hours.
However, two months later, the Bank of Ghana (BOG) is yet to confirm that the check has been completed.
“Undaunted by the flurry of protests from both internal and external sources over the agreement, Finance Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo jetted out of the country early this month on a mission to consummate the agreement that took him to Spain, Germany and Britain where he met with the shadowy officials of the consortium”.
“For the days the tour lasted, he was hobnobbing with the IFC officials – whose identity is yet to be unmasked by government to Ghanaians – in a bid to tie all the loose ends of the agreement and also to secure the release of the first tranche of $350m, Concord gathered”. “The officials of the offshore banking company had reportedly assuaged the minister’s anxiety and reservation by reviewing some aspects of the agreement, which may be detrimental to the interest of Ghana. Concord has learnt that the minister will soon embark on a public relations binge to convince Ghanaians to accept the new deal”.
But for now, Ghanaians are divided over the genuineness or otherwise of the IFC agreement. Speakers at various for a have expressed concern at the apparent haste at which the loan transaction was handled without the input of the investment, legal and banking community in the country and the general public.
A similar situation easily cited is the decision of the Kufuor administration to forge ahead with its decision to access the opportunities under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative minus public debate.
Close to five weeks after his meeting with government officials in Germany, the only publicly known member of the International Finance Consortium (IFC) and president of Chemac Inc, Horst Schneider says his organisation’s lips have been sealed on the controversial $1bn loan to Ghana.
He also says it is the duty and responsibility of the Kufuor administration to speak on the controversial loan not him.
“Your government must tell you this, not me. If your government tells you, fine. We are a private consortium and our mouths have been sealed,” Schneider told the “National Concord in Florida.
Schneider’s remarks deviate from his earlier promise to explain issues on the controversial loan after his return from the meeting with government officials led by Senior Minister, John Henry Mensah.
Schneider, who spoke after he returned a phone call to his office, nearly backed out of the agreed interview that was made subsequent to his meeting with the Ghanaian officials.
But after this reporter had pressed home the need for him to explain the issues, he agreed to grant the interview by the end of this month. He claimed he would be traveling to meet officials of other countries to arrange for similar IFC loans and that he and his partner might meet Ghanaian officials later on the proposed loan.
Meantime, officials of the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC in subsequent interviews a fortnight ago, reiterated the Bank’s earlier statement on the IFC and the controversial loan, saying the bank has no dealings with the IFC.
After weeks of waiting for the return of vacationing officers of the bank to speak, on the issue, the Concord said, “World Bank Country Programme Director for Ghana, Nicola Dyer, said last week that the position of the bank in its statement hasn’t changed. She said the bank is holding talks with the Ghanaian government on the issue.
Ms. Dyer is expected to travel to Accra by the end of this month to follow up discussions on the issue and to prepare the ground for the assumption of office of Mr. Peter Harrold’s successor.
Despite its claims of a credible lending history and statements by Ghanaian officials that it has the endorsement of the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Bank statement on the IFC issued last month indicated that it is yet to learn of the IFC from Ghana.
“…The World Bank has no dealings with nor direct knowledge of the International Finance Consortium. We are pursuing inquiries with the Ghanaian authorities about the details of this possible transaction,” the statement said.
“Contacts with the bank including the office of the bank’s vice-president for External Affairs and various officers last month, saw the same statement being reiterated”.
The Parliament approved loan agreement requires Schneider’s IFC, which is different from the widely recognised and respected International Finance Consortium (IFC), the private sector lending arm of the World Bank Group, to provide Ghana an investment capital of $1bn repayable over 25 years at an annual interest rate of 2.5 per cent.
The loan agreement has been the subject of serious controversy for weeks following statements about the IFC, which have turned out to be false.
There is almost no public record available on the IFC in the US to lend credence to the claims it makes. Claims that major American companies like Chemac Inc are behind it have also turned out to be empty.
Chemac is in fact a small sales and service family company not listed among companies on the northern New Jersey (NJ) database of 18,211 companies on Better Business Bureau (BBB), a credible index of corporate America.
“Neither Chemac, which has only two offices across the 52 states in the US, nor the IFC is on the ivy league of major business enterprises in the US. Chemac’s only other office is in Houston, Texas. Chris Schneider, a son of Horst Schneider, heads the Houston office”.
In a related development, Concord reports that its investigations and documentary evidence available indicate that at the time the loan agreement was passed by Parliament in July this year after initial clearance by the Finance Committee of Parliament, the Bank of Ghana had not completed its due diligence check on the consortium.
The only information about the consortium that was made available was the Curriculum Vitae (CV) of two of its board members.
The Bank of Ghana (BOG), which is responsible for investigating the background of the consortium, did not complete its work before the Minister for Finance brought the agreement to the floor of the august House for approval.
As at the time Parliament was going on recess, the Bank of Ghana was still making frantic efforts to obtain relevant information on IFC from Dun and Bradstreet, a high profile United States based establishment reputed for its due diligence work.
Dun and Bradstreet, according to Concord’s authoritative sources, could have furnished the government with the due diligence report in 48 hours.
However, two months later, the Bank of Ghana (BOG) is yet to confirm that the check has been completed.
“Undaunted by the flurry of protests from both internal and external sources over the agreement, Finance Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo jetted out of the country early this month on a mission to consummate the agreement that took him to Spain, Germany and Britain where he met with the shadowy officials of the consortium”.
“For the days the tour lasted, he was hobnobbing with the IFC officials – whose identity is yet to be unmasked by government to Ghanaians – in a bid to tie all the loose ends of the agreement and also to secure the release of the first tranche of $350m, Concord gathered”. “The officials of the offshore banking company had reportedly assuaged the minister’s anxiety and reservation by reviewing some aspects of the agreement, which may be detrimental to the interest of Ghana. Concord has learnt that the minister will soon embark on a public relations binge to convince Ghanaians to accept the new deal”.
But for now, Ghanaians are divided over the genuineness or otherwise of the IFC agreement. Speakers at various for a have expressed concern at the apparent haste at which the loan transaction was handled without the input of the investment, legal and banking community in the country and the general public.
A similar situation easily cited is the decision of the Kufuor administration to forge ahead with its decision to access the opportunities under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative minus public debate.
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