PV Obeng Took $2.5bn Loan Documents To Castle

By Mary Anane

AFTER MORE than a 4-month break, an Accra Commercial Court has resumed hearing the case of the alleged missing $2.5billion loan package introduced to the Ghana Government by H. E. Van Kirksey and Associates International of Washington, an African-American company somewhere in 1986.

The court presided over by Justice Margaret Insaidoo heard the testimony of one Brando Alfred Darko, an associate to the American company, when the case was called on Thursday.

Mr. Darko, who was subpoenaed by counsel for Egbert Adjeso, a defendant in the case, disclosed that S.K. Appea, former Deputy Governor of Bank of Ghana, had informed Clifford Townsend, Vice Chairman of the American company that BoG signed two documents concerning the loan but those documents were later picked up by P.V. Obeng, a presidential advisor to the Castle.

He said Mr. Appea specifically indicated that he signed the commission fee for Thomas Moss, the agent of the Hong Kong Trust, donor of the loan and another he did not remember.

He stated that Mr. Townsend had to remind him that the other document he signed was the seal of mandate for the $2.5 billion.

The former governor said this when he (witness) and Mr. Townsend went to his house as directed by their lawyer, Ray Kakraba-Quarshie, to inform him that he would soon be subpoenaed to give evidence in court.

According to the witness, Mr. Appea's wife is a witness to this discussion because she was invited by her husband to join the meeting.

Mr. Van Kirksey, Chairman of the US Company, has sued Egbert Adjeso, P.V Obeng, and Bank of Ghana to retrieve his 10 percent share agreement of the total loan package he used his company to acquire for the country.

The plaintiff, who presupposed the money arrived in the country safely, claims the defendants have failed to give him his share as indicated in the contract.

According to the plaintiff, what made him believe the loan had already been accessed was the fact that Thomas Moss, the agent who transacted the business, was paid his 2.5 percent commission.

On the contrary, the defendants including BoG said there was no record that any such money arrived.

Earlier before the witness had testified, J.K. Agyemang, counsel for BoG, had drawn the court's attention to the fact that the witness was always in court anytime the case came on.

However, he, together with counsel for P.V.Obeng and Mr. Twumasi Ankrah, counsel for Van Kirksey, the plaintiff, did not object to him testifying.

Under-cross examination by counsel for P.V. Obeng, the witness said he did not remember the exact date the meeting took place but remembers it was when the case was pending in court and also before Mr. Townsend died.

In response to a question as to whether it was normal for Mr. Obeng to have gone for documents signed by BoG to the Castle, the witness said the bank would be in the best position to answer that.

The witness, under-cross examination by Mr. Agyemang, admitted that he was always in court and had also supported the plaintiff.

Mr. Agyemang put it to the witness that Mr. Appea never talked about any two documents because in a letter he (Mr. Appea) wrote to him to report Mr. Townsend's conduct of coming to his house, Mr. Appea said he told Mr. Townsend that he signed a document for an investigations to be conducted on the whole business transaction; and that the result of that investigation proved that the transaction was not genuine.

Mr. Agyemang added that all the witness told the court were lies because he was not made to even sit in the said meeting, but the witness maintained his stand.

Before the break, Justice Margaret Insaidoo subpoenaed four persons including S. K. Appea, to help the court trace the whereabouts of the said loan which has generated some controversy, in which certain people have blamed certain former state officials during the Rawlings regime in the late 80s.

Mr. Appea, then the acting BoG Governor who allegedly signed and sealed the mandate for the loan to be brought into the country, was to appear with Mr. Adjei, then counsel for the bank, Dr. KG Erbyn, then Chief Executive of Ghana Investment Centre and Aduamoa Bossman, former attorney for Van Kirksey and Associates, to say what they know about the agreement.

However, for over a year since that subpoena was issued, only Mr. Adumoa Bossman among the four has appeared to testify.

Counsel for Egbert Adjeso, on whose request the subpoena was issued, has assured the court that S.N. Adjei would be their next witness on May 12, 2010.

The whereabouts of the former BoG boss, a key witness and Dr. Erbyn is still unknown, according to information gathered by DAILY GUIDE.

If not for the subpoena, Mr. P.V. Obeng, who is said to know much about the loan, would have been the next defendant to tell the court what he knows.

Mr. Obeng, then a member of the negotiating team, according to the plaintiff, had allegedly agreed to release a 3% commission of the loan package to the American company to close the deal, after all negotiations had been completed and the loan accessed.

However, Mr. Obeng allegedly rescinded his decision without any cause.

Mr. Van Kirksey, Chairman and Mr. Clifford Townsend, Vice Chairman of the American company, arrived in Ghana and presented the loan package to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana who forwarded it to the Secretary of Finance and later presented to Justice D.F. Annan, Chairman of the National Economic Review Committee.

The American company allegedly met with P.V. Obeng and the Bank of Ghana on the loan package, for which it responded to an inquiry from Mr. P.V. Obeng concerning the availability of loan proceeds and how to access the facility.

The story of the plaintiff was confirmed by William Adumoah Bossman, a renowned lawyer, when he was subpoenaed to give evidence in court.

Mr. Adumuoah Bossman, who was then a lawyer for both Van Kirksey and Egbert Adjeso when they were in a joint business, told the court he saw an advisory letter from one Thomas Moss, an agent for Hong Kong Trust, donor of the loan, which disclosed that the money was transferred to Ghana.

The legal luminary disclosed that what had made Egbert Adjeso and the American company believe that the money was transferred was the irrevocable mandate signed by the BoG in the name of the American company and also the commission paid to the agent.

According to him, he received information from some workers at BoG during the time that some of the controversial loan money was taken to the Castle, the seat of government, in boxes.

The senior lawyer who believed there was some form of “collusion” at the bank said his informants disclosed that they took part in packing the monies into vans and sending them to certain destinations within the country, although they did not specifically state that those monies were part of the loan.

He said the workers who looked “scary, fearful, frightened and careful that nobody saw them coming to him, had also mentioned they packed some of the money into boxes and sent them to the Castle.”

Mr. Bossman said he and his clients were surprised the bank said it has no information about the money.