The Minority in Parliament is calling for a fresh parliamentary investigation into alleged $1.7 billion losses linked to GoldBod’s gold purchasing and trading operations, insisting that the institution cannot retain the benefits of the transactions while shifting the associated losses to the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
Addressing the media in Parliament, Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin rejected GoldBod’s reliance on its audited accounts, which he said show a profit, arguing that the underlying transactions and costs must also be examined.
He said the losses identified in an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report were generated through GoldBod’s operations but ended up on the books of the central bank.
“Government has not publicly objected to the findings in the report. Ladies and gentlemen, let me open this by setting the record straight because 1.7 billion losses do not belong buried in a footnote. It belongs in the open where the people who own it can see.”
According to Afenyo-Markin, the IMF attributed the losses to service and assay fees paid to GoldBod, discounts on gold sold to off-takers and exchange-rate losses arising from differences between the rates used to purchase gold and those applied for BoG accounting.
“In its own words, the losses, quote, are a combination of service and assay fees paid to Gold Board. Discounts on gold sold to off-takers into bracket exporters and most importantly, exchange rate losses from the spread between foreign bureau rates paid to purchase gold and the city reference rate used for BOG accounting. This can be found in paragraph 13 of the IMF report.”
The Minority Leader questioned why GoldBod should retain fees generated from the transactions while the associated losses are borne by another state institution.
“If every one of those services, service fees and assay fees were collected and kept, why should the losses that came bundled with earning them belong to someone else? You do not get to keep the fees and disown the costs. This is not accounting. That is convenience.”
He also demanded information on the companies or entities that purchased discounted gold from GoldBod.
“And who exactly are these off-takers Gold Board sold discounted gold to? The country deserves an answer.”
Afenyo-Markin said GoldBod’s reported profit should not end the discussion because Parliament must examine the transactions and cost structures behind that profit.
“We the minority are not here to really relegate the profit of Gold Board. The profit Gold Board has published it in its own account. We are here because what happened of the books, the operations, the free fee structures, the discounted sales that made that profit possible in the first place. Substance must always be judged over form.”
He further accused GoldBod of benefiting from revenue while leaving the Bank of Ghana to carry the losses.
“Gold Board took Bank of Ghana’s money to assay gold and collect its fees. It cannot claim the credit that comes with the revenue while pushing every loss into Bank of Ghana’s balance sheets.”
The Minority is therefore preparing another motion for Parliament to investigate the alleged losses, including the transactions involving GoldBod, the identity of the off-takers and the financial arrangements between GoldBod and the Bank of Ghana.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
