Transparency International (TI) has petitioned the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to reject the Agyapa Royalties agreement if concerns about corruption in the deal are not “satisfactorily addressed.”
The anti-corruption body wrote to the FCA to reject the application to list Agyapa Royalties Limited on the London Stock Exchange
TI on its website on Tuesday December 22, 2020 said it had forwarded a copy of its submission to J.P. Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch International and law firm White and Case.
“Transparency International has urged the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to make detailed inquiries into the Government of Ghana’s application to list Agyapa Royalties Limited on the London Stock Exchange, and to reject the listing if corruption concerns are not satisfactorily addressed.
“The banks and lawyers involved in the deal have also been urged to withdraw their engagement,” excerpts of the post read.
Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative, the Ghana chapter of Transparency International said: “There are serious red flags in how this deal was set up. Concerns have been raised by civil society actors around inadequate stakeholder consultation, transparency and the valuation of the deal. Other concerns bother on the way transaction advisors became involved in the process and a lack of public oversight over the company at the heart of the deal. It is crucial for Ghana that the western financial institutions and regulators involved in this deal take these concerns seriously. They must not facilitate schemes that may end up plundering Ghana’s mineral resources in the name of investment.”
Ghana’s legislature approved the controversial Agyapa Mineral Royalty Limited agreement Friday, August 14 despite a protest from the Minority.
Based on the agreement, Agyapa Royalties Limited (ARL) will trade shares on the Ghana Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange for private people to buy. But the Mineral Income Investment Fund(MIIF) will remain the majority shareholder.
But the deal has met stiff opposition from a group of civil society and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) who believe that the deal is bad.
Former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, cited among other things his analysis of the risk of prevention of corruption and anti-corruption assessment of the Agyapa Royalties deal as a reason for his resignation.
Mr. Amidu Monday November 16 sent his resignation the President and a public statement announcing his resignation.
Parts of the public statement indicates that his resignation was as a result of his recent corruption risk assessment of the controversial Agyapa Royalties agreement in which some key government appointees and close associates to government were fingered.
According to Martin Amidu, the conduct of the exercise did not go down well with the powers that be, an experience he described as traumatizing.
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana
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