Stop Tagging Me with Corruption—Former Dep. BoG Governor Fumes

A Former Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Johnson Asiama is accusing some politicians for attacking his personality in the role he played during a contract the Bank of Ghana awarded to Sibtons Switch to undertake a Mobile Money Interoperability project.

The project which was aborted after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) came to power in 2017 was estimated to cost about 4.6 billion cedis over a period of fifteen years.

But speaking at the launch of the Mobile Money Interoperability last week, Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia disclosed that the project cost 4 million cedis.

Addressing a press conference, Dr. Asiama stated that some people are deliberately accusing him of corruption to destroy his image.

He argued that politicians are distorting the issue, assuming the powers of the Bank of Ghana.

“It is politicians taking over an issue which should be in the domain of the central bank. Politicians back off this issue. There is no criminality. There is no role of government,” he charged.

He explained that “under the original contract there was no government involvement. It was the central bank in a commercial transaction with a client. If they have a problem, they have lawyers, they have professionals”.

Dr. Asiama insisted that he did no wrong in the role he played to award the contract to Sibtons Switch.

“Let the central bank speak, let them do their job,” he charged again, adding that “ When you turn it into politics and then you hang corruption on my neck, you make me look bad, and I can’t sit down, I can’t sleep over that I have to make it clear”.

He stated that he is not speaking on behalf of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), but clearing his name.

Reacting to a question on the differences in the prices quoted by Sibtons and what the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS), Dr. Asiama explained that the current system cannot monitor the flow of transactions to determine the revenue that would be accrued to government.

Source: Citibusinessnews