The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Petroleum Commission (PC), Mr Egbert Faibille Jnr has said there is no US$4.5million dollars scandal at the Commission.
He said reports claiming that an amount of US$4.5M paid to the Commission by Aker Energy has vanished, is false and should be dismissed.
In a Facebook post on Sunday February 7, Egbert Faibille Jnr said “My attention has been drawn to some fake online reports claiming that an amount of US$4.5M paid to the Petroleum Commission by Aker Energy has vanished.
“The falsity of the reports is as follows: The Commission has never received any sum of US$4.5million from Aker Energy. Aker promised to support the Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity Building Programme with the sum of US$4.5M. Before it could start its plans COVID-19 struck, which development affected its support for AOGC.
“The Commission during the same period resolved that instead of sending Ghanaians abroad for training under the AOGC which is expensive, we can identify a training facility in Ghana and bring it up to world accredited standards and thereby train Ghanaians to international standards locally.
“To that end, the Commission identified the establishment of a world class welding and pipefitting centre as a major project that we can get Aker to commit its US$4.5M to build here in Ghana. The Commission approached the management of Takoradi Technical University (TTU) for land for the project, which it has graciously given.”
He added “Having secured the land, the Commission wrote to Aker Energy informing it of the change of its scope from sending Ghanaians to train abroad to building a world class welding and pipefitting centre on the TTU campus to among others reduce the costs of such trainings whilst ensuring world class certifications.
“Aker Energy communicated its acceptance of the change in scope in December last year and has only recently followed up with an announcement that it is increasing the original amount of US$4.5M by US$ 500,000 thus making the package US$5M.
“Aker Energy holds the funds and will be responsible for the payments to be made for the construction of the facility and all incidental costs arising therefrom. The Petroleum Commission will therefore not receive the money and has not received the money.
“The Commission is focused on its mandate and will not be distracted by such false and baseless reportage.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana
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