Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has denied claims that he withdrew funds from the contingency fund for the National Cathedral project.
Speaking before the Adhoc Committee of Parliament hearing the censure motion brought against him today Friday 18th November 2022, it was rather funds from the Contingency Vote that were used for the project.
According to the finance Minister, The Contingency Fund and the Contingency Vault are two different things which should not be confused.
“I did not withdraw funds from the Contingency Fund for National Cathedral,” he told the committee on Friday November 18.
“The withdrawals were lawfully done from the Contingency Vote and not from the Contingency Fund as alleged by the proponents.”
The committee dropped two out of the seven charges against him after the Ghana National Petroleum Commission (GNPC) which was called upon by the committee to testify on Thursday did not say that the Finance Minister authorized payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts.
Also speaking during the proceedings today Co-chair of the committee, Dr Dominic Ayine said the Ghana National Petroleum Commission (GNPC) did not say anything to the effect that you gave the instructions with respect to that payment.
“…They also did not say anything to the effect that you gave the instructions with respect to that payment. On account of the evidence adduced which kind of contradicted the evidence that was led by the proponent of the motion, the committee has taken the view that you will not be called to deal with this matter.”
“…So in essence, there are now five grounds that you will have to deal with. Those are grounds 2, that is the unconstitutional withdrawals in relation to the national for national cathedral, then we have ground 5, 6 and 7 to deal with,” he said.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Vivian Adu