Government on course to pay Trafigura debt - Ministry of Finance

The Ministry for Finance has noted that the government is making the necessary arrangements to pay the judgement debt owed to Trafigura.

In an earlier report, Trafigura has threatened to seize Ghana's assets in South Africa after it failed to pay its judgement debt of over $134 million.

In a letter from Trafigura’s Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC) to the Minister for Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, which has been sighted by GhanaWeb, Trafigura indicated that in addition to the 16 banks with ties to the government of Ghana, it plans to subpoena US-based corporations affiliated with the government.

“Further to our letter of September 20, 2024, to which we have not yet received a response, we can confirm that we have today filed the relevant papers to commence enforcement of the arbitral award in South Africa. As a courtesy, we have enclosed at Annex 1 the filings with this letter as service on the government of Ghana through diplomatic channels may take some months.

“In addition to the 16 banks based in the United States that GPGC has subpoenaed (as evidenced in the attached at Annex 2), we plan to issue further subpoenas to US-based corporations with ties to the Government of Ghana later this week, with further action to follow,” part of the letter, which was signed by the Director of GPGC, Patrick Burke, reads.

The Finance Ministry in a press statement noted that "It has come to our attention that a letter received today, 24th September 2024 about our engagement with Trafigura is circulating in the media creating the impression of the government’s inaction on a yet to be executed Settlement Agreement.

"As may have been noticed, the said letter references on-going engagement on pathways towards settling the claims," it added.

​The Ministry of Finance further noted that the necessary arrangements to pay-off the outstanding claims agreed with Trafigura after several rounds of negotiations are in the offing.

"We are therefore surprised at the circulation of this letter on social media," it said.

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