“Is K.T. Hammond That Bloody Cheap?” Ex-MP Reacts to Alleged $46,000 Aksa Energy Bribe to MPs
Former Adansi Asokwa MP and former Ranking Member of Parliament’s Energy Committee, K.T. Hammond has rejected claims that members of the committee received an alleged US$46,000 bribe in connection with the ratification of the Aksa Energy deal.
Mr Hammond questioned how the alleged amount could have been shared among the 18 members of the committee and parliamentary secretariat staff.
“We had 18 people in Parliament, members on the Energy Committee, and then the Secretariat and all of that; are they suggesting we shared that and each person got about $500 or $1,000 or something?” he asked.
“Is K.T. Hammond that bloody cheap? Is that it?” he added.
His comments follow the conviction in the United States of Kwaku Asante Berko, a former Goldman Sachs investment banker and former Managing Director of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), over a bribery and money-laundering scheme linked to a power plant project in Ghana.
According to evidence presented at trial, Berko and his associates discussed paying more than US$1 million in bribes to Ghanaian officials between 2014 and 2015. The evidence also referred to US$46,000 allegedly paid to members of Parliament involved in ratifying the Aksa Energy agreement.
Mr Hammond maintained that the Energy Committee had no knowledge of any bribery arrangement and argued that discussions about alleged payments did not necessarily prove that recipients actually received the money.
Former Power Minister Dr Kwabena Donkor has also denied receiving any money from Berko or being involved in the alleged bribery scheme.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor has confirmed that it assisted the US Federal Bureau of Investigation with investigations into the case.
