'Ailing BOST' seeks $120 million from GCB Bank

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), is on the heels of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transport Company Limited (BOST) with fresh allegation, it is on the capital market to borrow some $120, 000,000. 00 for the day to day running of the state enterprise.

According to the Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, BOST he calls “ailing”, is hoping to raise the said amount from the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB).

“Sadly, however, the bad management decisions over the past one year, has seen BOST not only lose its goodwill or operating capital but currently reeling under a lot of debts which has now forced it onto the capital market to borrow a whopping $120,000.000.00 (one hundred and twenty million dollars) from a single bank for operations” COPEC has said.

The question being asked by COPEC in its statement issued yesterday signed by Mr. Amoah titled “Don’t let GCB collapse” is, why BOST, will have to borrow in this short period, after it declared profit few months ago?

COPEC said, it is strange for the company to be on the market when in less than a year ago, it claimed it made a whopping profit of GHc35million after trading.

“BOST is on record to have indicated making a whopping profit of Ghc35million last year after trading”, the statement said.

Since his appointment last year, the administration of Managing Director (MD) Alfred Obeng, has been marred with one scandal or the other with the first being in March 2017 where it decided to sell cheaply, some 5million litres of fuel for Ghc1.20/litre thereby effectively throwing away almost Ghc3 on every single litre for 5 million litres.

It said “One would expect such a company whose net capital less net operating expenses leaves a surplus or profit of over Ghc35million to be able to do either same volume of business if not more but BOST has not brought a single litre since the ‘donkomi’ sale in September”.

In September the same year, BOST, sold illegally some 1.8 million barrels of crude oil at a discount leading to the loss of GH¢23million in revenue to the state to AOT and BB energy.

In the two cases, the government has been asked to look into the issue but no favourable response has been heard leading to the September one being sent to the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu by COPEC.

The Chamber alleges that during this singular transaction, the taxpayer lost as much as $5million describing it as “very questionable and highly suspicious”.

Following it record in the public domain over the past one, BOST the statement noted is accusing the Finance Ministry headed by Ken Ofori Atta of refusing to grant an illegal waiver of the single obligator limit for them to access the money for their activities.

It called on the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, to pay serious attention to how the company is being run, while the Chamber waits for the likes of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy to comprehensively probe the current ailing situation at BOST to institutionally reform and correct the rot at BOST, in order to bring it to profitability.

Mr Duncan Amoah, implored the other bodies whose duty it is to protect the national purse to switch attention to the “ailing state owned BOST” and audit it account and operations.

“We believe the Finance Ministry will not be in a hurry to Grant any waiver to this deal of over Ghc 550 million that could potentially further harm the financial sector bearing in mind the collapse of a number”, the statement concluded.