The government has given an assurance that it will support the Sole Commissioner of Judgement Debts to unravel the mystery surrounding the sale of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) drill ship in 2001 for the settlement of a judgement debt to Societe Generale.
Addressing journalists at the Flagstaff House yesterday, a deputy minister of Information and Media Relations, Mr Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, said the government was not claiming that anybody had squandered money.
The Discovery 511 was sold for $24 million by the Energy ministry to defray a judgement debt of $19.5 million to Societe Generale as ordered by a court in London.
Mr Muhammed said since state resources were involved, ''the government will do everything within the law to assist the Sole Commissioner to unravel the mystery”.
He said the rule was that all payments made on behalf of the state should be done by the Bank of Ghana.
Therefore, he said, it was crucial to establish whether the right procedure had been followed in the sale of the ship and the subsequent payment of the judgement debt.
''People are concerned about it. We should be able to come to a conclusion. Did we follow the appropriate procedure? There are a lot of answers that Ghanaians will need,'' he stressed.
Mr Muhammed said recent revelations at the sittings of the Commission on Judgement Debts had vindicated President John Dramani Mahama's decision to appoint the Sole Commissioner to investigate judgement debts.
By Musah Yahaya Jafaru/Daily Graphic/Ghana
