Propaganda and mischief started Agyapa noise – Gabby Otchere-Darko

Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko says the brouhaha surrounding the Agyapa Royalties Limited deal was started by propaganda and mischief from the opposition.

According to founder of the Danquah Institute, when the bill was first introduced in parliament to be passed into law, “all the issues raised was how to protect the government's interest and at the same time, make it attractive to investors in parliament but outside the parliament we didn’t hear much.”

He said all the noise started because people created the impression that Agyapa Royalties Limited is being created for persons closer to power to loot money.

“And they thought that Agyapa or Asaase, which the name was, was some friends or family members who were doing it. I don’t think any reasonable person in Ghana now believes that there are hidden owners of Agyapa,” Otchere-Darko told Paul Adom-Otchere on Good Evening Ghana, Tuesday, September 1, 2020.

He explained that when the shares of Agyapa are listed on the London Stock Exchange, any Ghanaian who deems it fit and has the financial strength can buy some because it is owned by the Government of Ghana.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for investors because we have a lot of gold,” he stated.

When asked whether or not he would buy some of the shares, the leading member of ruling New Patriotic Party stated that he was yet to take a decision on that.

“You think Ghanaians care who gave them value for the asset…the more people take it at a higher value the more money comes to the country,” he added.

Discussing the role of his law firm in the Agyapa deal, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko stated that his law firm works with an international partner which has been to many African countries to work with institutions, and even Facebook is their client.

“We are getting a lot of jobs because we are partners with this UK based law firm.”

He confirmed that the money he has received so far from the Agyapa Royalties deal was paid by Imara Asset Management, who is a transactional advisor to the UK based law firm that his law firm is a partnering.

“My firm with our partners have been working on this transaction for 30 months (two and half years). Five lawyers are working on it...and we’ve been paid one hundred and three thousand dollars...,” he said.

He stressed that his law firm together with his partners abroad are only transaction advisors and not the lawyers for the Ministry of Finance.