PDS probe: FTI report not the full picture, wait on final report – Gov’t urges public

The government has urged the public to be patient and wait for the full report on the investigation into the suspended Power Distribution Services (PDS) concession deal.

This is after a report by FTI Consulting, a United States-based consulting firm which was commissioned by the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) to probe the deal was leaked.

The FTI report indicated that PDS duly won the contract to manage the assets of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and said insurance guarantees were paid to back PDS’s takeover of the assets and operations of the ECG.

According to the Daily Graphic, a 32-page report submitted by FTI Consulting to MiDA, dated September 3, 2019 and signed by Pat Pericak and David Okhumal, both officials of the consulting firm, said: “We have not seen any documents that would suggest that, as of March 1, 2019, PDS, Cal Bank, Donewell and/or personnel from MiDA should have questioned the validity of the payment securities.”

But on Eyewitness News, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the circulation of the leaked report was misleading and advised “everybody to just tarry whilst it [the full report] is all put together in the various parties.”

“To create an impression that it is the full embodiment of the government position on the PDS enquiry and we find that very unfortunate because that is not the case.”

The Minister explained that the FTI report represented one part of the probe; the part which involved a trip to the United States of America for engagements with the milenium Challenge Compact as part of a forensic.

The second team did part of its investigation in Qatar and Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said the report on this part of the investigation will provide the full picture.

“When that final embodiment is put into a government position statement, they will be formally engaging the country on the position of Ghana.”

“That entire document must be read together with the other report and a certain common position arrived at. It is that common position that becomes the embodiment of the government of Ghana and MCC position moving forward.”

On Tuesday, July 30, 2019, the government announced the suspension of the concession agreement and explained that the decision followed the “detection of fundamental and material breaches of PDS’s obligation in the provision of Payment Securities for the transaction which were discovered upon further due diligence”.