GNPC Boss Defends $7.5m Property Purchase

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Dr. Kofi Koduah Sarpong, has confirmed he once worked with Global Haulage Company Limited from which the GNPC bought a $7.5 million property.

He, however, insists that despite his past association with the transport entity, the relationship did not influence the negotiation and purchase of the multimillion-dollar property located at Chapel Hill, a gated community in Takoradi.

“I had been connected with Global Haulage, but I must tell you that the transaction is above board. All valuation reports by relevant agencies went through the board of directors [and] the board of directors’ subcommittee on properties looked at it and recommended [its suitability] to the board,” Dr. Sarpong disclosed to Joy FM’s Super Morning Show yesterday.

The transaction, which was sealed in December 2017, has generated controversy following a memo from Dr. Saporng ordering the GNPC finance officer to urgently transfer a total sum of $7.5 million to Global Haulage as payment for the said property.

Global Haulage is also the parent company of the defunct Royal Bank which, together with four other banks, was collapsed by the Bank of Ghana to form Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited.

According to him, he was not involved in the negotiation of the transaction because of the close relationship he had with Global Haulage.

“Because of my experience [and] knowing that I have been related to Global Haulage, I never took part in the negotiations and even the vendors themselves found it very difficult getting me to help them with the transaction,” he told show host, Daniel Dadzie.

He explained he had to issue the memo to the finance officer to effect the payments before an audit into documents covering the transaction because Global Haulage needed the money, while the GNPC legal officer, Ama Awuah-Kyeremanteng had taken a vacation.

“I don’t see anything wrong with this at all… and it’s not something that was done nicodemously. It was done openly [and] everybody on the Board; and even GNPC staff involved in properties cannot say they were not aware,” Dr. Sarpong stressed.