Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister
It has emerged that Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta declared “DataBank” as part of his asset declaration, contrary to claims by a section of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) report, mynewsgh.com has learnt.
This is according to the Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Abdul Malik Kweku Baako who made the revelation on Newsfile on Joynews today, that Mr Ken Ofori-Atta actually declared “DataBank” on his Asset Declaration Form, and all that CHRAJ should have done was to have granted the Finance Minister audience when they misunderstood anything.
Quoting sections of rule 36 of CHRAJ LI, he said “the commission may forward a report of its preliminary investigations to the parties for their comments … The commission shall invite the person likely to be affected … “
In his submissions on Newsfile, on Joynews, Mr Baako said in his reasoning, CHRAJ might have decided against inviting Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta on the Asset declaration question because “the commission might have thought that in a strict sense, asset declaration per se was not what it was investigating… they might have thought that it was no big deal, but forgetting that putting it in their final report will raise all sorts of issues. So I think procedurally once they found it and wanted further and better particulars, the respondent’s attention should have been drawn to it”, he said.
“If you take a look at the Asset Declaration form, Ken put in there ‘DataBank’, that’s what he put in there. Now really, is there a company called DataBank in the true sense of the word?”, he asked rhetorically.
CHRAJ had said in sections of its report based on a petition by the NDC’s Ashanti Regional Youth Organizer, Brogya Genfi against the Finance Minister Mr Ken Ofori-Atta thus: “It is observed that the respondent has other assets which he did not disclose on his asset declaration form. They include his interest in DataBank Financial Services Limited and DataBank Brokerage Limited,” the CHRAJ report said.
Mr Kweku Baako, however, is of the opinion that The Finance Minister Mr Ken Ofori-Atta put “DataBank” on the form thinking it covered all his DataBank interest. “That’s why the Commission should have called his (Ken Ofori-Atta’s) attention to it. This is a simple matter”, the respected Journalist concluded.
The Minority in Parliament has accused Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta of flouting rules and guidelines of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) as well as engaging in several infractions in relation to the $2.25billion bond issued by the government in 2017.
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) investigated the issuance of the bond following allegations of conflict of interest against Mr Ofori-Atta by the Minority and subsequently cleared him of any wrongdoing, a report which also contained an information to the effect that Mr Ken Ofori-Atta failed to declare his interests in DataBank Financial Services Limited and DataBank Brokerage Limited.
After studying the report, the Minority maintains that CHRAJ has raised various concerns which posed questions about the legitimacy of the issuance of bond and have consequently called for his resignation.
