Agyapa deal woes deepen: UK FIs urged to review and withdraw from gold royalties deal
Controversial deal flagged for corruption risks
would see Jersey-based Agyapa Royalties Limited floated on the London Stock
Exchange
The
parent organisation of Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Transparency
International (TI), has urged the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to make
detailed inquiries into the Government of Ghana’s application to list Agyapa
Royalties Limited on the London Stock Exchange, and to reject the listing if
corruption concerns are not satisfactorily addressed.
Financial
Institutions (FIs), banks and lawyers involved in the deal have also been urged
to withdraw their engagement.
In
a submission to the FCA and forwarded to J.P. Morgan, Bank of America Merrill
Lynch International and law firm White and Case; Transparency International
detailed concerns shared by a coalition of almost 30 Ghanaian and international
civil society organisations that the deal smacks of corruption.
“There
are serious red flags in how this deal was set up. Concerns have been raised by
civil society actors around inadequate stakeholder consultation, transparency
and the valuation of the deal”, Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Executive Director of GII said
in a press statement issued today, Tuesday, 22 December 2020.
“Other concerns bother on the way transaction advisors became involved in the process and a lack of public oversight over the company at the heart of the deal. It is crucial for Ghana that the western financial institutions and regulators involved in this deal take these concerns seriously. They must not facilitate schemes that may end up plundering Ghana’s mineral resources in the name of investment.”
Agyapa
Royalties Limited is a Jersey-based special purpose vehicle that would own
almost 76 per cent of the royalties generated from 16 large gold mines in Ghana
under a scheme that has caused controversy and political fallout in Ghana.
Forty-nine per cent of shares in Agyapa Royalties are to be sold through a
listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Following
the controversies over the Agyapa deal, the Special Prosecutor at the time,
Martin Amidu raised red flags over the risks of money laundering in the deal
and possible bid-rigging in the contracting of advisors. Mr Amidu shared his
report publicly in November which gave further impetus to the advocacy for a
review of the Agyapa Royalties deal.
Transparency
International press office
press@transparency.org
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