{"id":3491,"date":"2024-08-23T20:32:54","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T20:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/?p=3491"},"modified":"2024-08-23T20:32:56","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T20:32:56","slug":"ghanas-assets-face-seizure-over-governments-mishandling-of-trafigura-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/?p=3491","title":{"rendered":"Ghana’s Assets Face Seizure Over Government’s Mishandling of Trafigura Debt”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has in a critical opinion piece expressed deep disappointment in Ghana\u2019s High Commissioner in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He accused him of downplaying the severity of the Regina House issue and failing to adequately advise government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Simons argues that government\u2019s mishandling of a legal dispute with Oil conglomerate Trafigura, which resulted in Regina House being placed under receivership, puts Ghana\u2019s assets at significant risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He provides a detailed account of the situation, beginning with the history of Regina House, a property acquired by Ghana\u2019s first president, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, in 1961 for the Ghana Commercial Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oil conglomerate Trafigura\u2019s Ghana Power Generation Company has taken over one of the country\u2019s most important commercial properties in London, following the failure of the government to pay up a $134 million judgment debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For four years Trafiguara has been unsuccessful in getting the government to pay up the judgement debt awarded to the energy firm after the abrupt termination of a power purchase agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This situation forced Trafigura to secure another judgement in the United States courts which awarded a mandatory interest on the default of $111.4 million which remains the arrears to be paid by Ghana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame has told Joy News it is up to the Finance Ministry to expedite action on the payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The foregoing has left Bright Simons disappointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said over the years, the building has served various state affiliates and has become a symbol of Ghana\u2019s international presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the situation took a turn for the worse after Ghana lost an arbitration dispute with Trafigura in 2021, which Mr Simons believes should never have been entered into in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite securing a deed of release from the City of London in 2015, the government has since struggled to manage the fallout from the arbitration loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government failed to show up in court to negotiate payment terms or delay the enforcement of the judgment. Instead, it waited until after a charging order was issued against Regina House before taking any action,\u201d Bright Simons wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed out that nearly $2 million in rent has already been paid to Trafigura as a result of the receivership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simons also criticised the Attorney General for failing to defend against other enforcement suits in the Netherlands and the United States, leading to a situation where Ghana has paid nearly $90 million without reducing the original debt significantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe original debt amount of approximately $138 million has barely reduced, and Ghana\u2019s assets remain vulnerable to further seizures,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simons concluded by urging government officials to stop spinning the situation and to take the necessary steps to protect Ghana\u2019s assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is not the time for spin and points scoring. Senior government officials need to be serious,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has in a critical opinion piece expressed deep disappointment in Ghana\u2019s High Commissioner in London. He accused […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3494,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491\/revisions\/3494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}