The Founding Editor-In-Chief of the Fourth Estate, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has assured the Office of the Special Prosecutor(OSP) of his preparedness to assist with any information required to investigate its new project titled ‘The GH¢3 billion lie.’
According to him, the primary purpose of investigative pieces is to expose wrongdoing and help the country recover lost revenue. Therefore, he and his team will assist the state agency with information needed to bring all offenders to book.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story, he said, “At the end of the day, we do this work to help with the State not losing money and I have been to court several times to represent the State as a witness in Investigations I have done.
“I went through months of cross-examination in the A.B Adjei case which the special prosecutor is prosecuting and even in the US I had to join via Zoom to testify so if there is anything that they want to do, I think that it is only fair and natural that I cooperate, and then my team also would avail ourselves and whatever support or help or further information or clarification they need, we are always ready to help.”
His comments come after the Finance Committee of Parliament intervened with a commitment to probe the matter.
On December 19, the Minority advocated for a comprehensive investigation into a government contract with Strategic Mobilization Ghana Limited (SML) to prevent significant financial losses in Ghana’s petroleum sector.
A report by the Fourth Estate raised questions about the contract’s validity, with Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta expanding it and estimating a potential cost of $100 million to the state over the next decade.
Minority Spokesperson on Mines and Energy and a member of the Finance Committee, John Jinapor asserts that the deal should be promptly suspended while awaiting a parliamentary probe.
Meanwhile, the Special Prosecutor has been petitioned to probe the Finance Ministry, the Ghana Revenue Authority and Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited over the questionable $1 billion contract for revenue assurance in the petroleum downstream, upstream, and gold mining sectors.