The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is accusing the government of failing to demand accountability for some GHS1.5 billion that the Power Distribution Service (PDS) received from consumers of electricity.
According to the opposition party, PDS generated such revenue between the period of March and October 2019.
Addressing the press at the NDC headquarters on Monday, August 10, 2020, National Communication Officer of the party, Sammy Gyamfi, said President Akufo-Addo had shown no willingness to prosecute all individuals involved in the PDS scandal.
“The perpetrators of the PDS scam are still walking the streets of Ghana as free men despite the fact that government itself described the transaction as fraudulent. No arrest or prosecution has taken place till date.”
He insisted that the Vice President, the Finance Minister and Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) “aided, abetted and facilitated this scam on the people of Ghana”.
Sammy Gyamfi added that the NDC shall ensure the arrest and prosecution of persons “who directly or indirectly played roles in this stinking PDS scam”.
He also said Ghanaians can be assured that the NDC “shall ensure that all monies… collected by PDS from electricity consumers are properly accounted for and ensure the retrieval of any amounts misappropriated by the company”.
Why the deal was terminated
PDS was, in July 2019, found to have presented invalid insurance security for the takeover of ECG assets.
The company was initially supposed to furnish the ECG with payment securities in the form of either a demand guarantee or a letter of credit issued by a bank.
The insurance guarantee came about because of difficulties experienced with raising a bank guarantee.
PDS appealed to use a demand guarantee issued by an A-rated insurance company.
PDS thus submitted the Payment Securities in the form of demand guarantees issued by a Qatari insurance firm, Al Koot Insurance and Reinsurance, which eventually became the source fraud after it was discovered that there were fabricated letters and forged signatures.
The government also noted that Al Koot did not have the capacity to engage in such a transaction-based on its net worth.
The company was also not authorised to issue demand guarantees.
