Govt running away from E O corruption charge - MP

By Citifmonline.com | Wed 03rd November, 2010 18:57 GMT

Hon Joseph Kofi Adda

The Minority Spokesperson on Energy, Hon Joseph Kofi Adda has expressed anger over what he says are moves by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to victimise Jubilee partners E O Group.

The Ghanaian-owned Jubilee partner has been under investigation over allegations of fraud and corruption since the Mills administration assumed office in January 2009. While officials in Ghana have yet to complete their probe into the operations of the company, the Justice Department in the US announced in June that it had finished investigating EO Group and found nothing incriminating about the company’s role in the allocation of shares in the Jubilee Oil Fields.

Here in Ghana, the Attorney General’s Department is believed to have set in motion plans to prosecute some officials of EO Group over their alleged role in the inappropriate allocation of Jubilee Field shares to the company. In a move to probe the AG’s handling of the matter, Hon Adda filed a question in Parliament demanding answers on the AG’s handling of the EO Group investigations.

Although the question was scheduled to have been answered on Wednesday November 3, it did not appear on the day’s Order Paper of the House. This development has angered Hon Addah, who told Citi News the AG’s Department is up to mischief.

“I feel very disappointed and let down and very surprised that the leadership of the House and the clerks would delete the question that was advertised yesterday in the provisional order paper to be asked this morning" he told our reporter.

"I drove down from a committee meeting at Koforidua to ask the Minister of Justice and Attorney- General this question only to find out that the question is not there. And the only reason they are offering is that she (A-G Betty Mould Iddrisu) had to travel at short notice.

"Clearly this was something that was presented as an Urgent Question in the last sitting before we rose for the long vacation. Why they couldn’t plan to have this tabled at a time she would be here is surprising to me. I like to think that they are dodging the question.”

Meanwhile, the Government’s plans to anchor the 2011 National Budget on projected oil revenue is drawing opposition anger and threats that the budget could be rejected when it is laid before the House. Some Minority MPs who have spoken to Citi News say the government’s plans are dangerous and could spell doom for the country.