A witness statement by an officer of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng has revealed that former CEO of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), Solomon Asamoah, together with the then board chairman, Prof. Ameyaw Akumfi, authorised a payment of $2 million to Africa Investor Holdings Limited (AIHL) without the required formal approval of the GIIF board.
According to the witness statement sighted by 3News.com, the payment, made in 2019, was part of a failed attempt to develop a Sky Train project in Accra.
In a detailed statement submitted by Nana Yaw Koranteng, the current CEO of GIIF, the transaction has been flagged as highly irregular and devoid of due process.
According to Koranteng, documents he reviewed after assuming office indicated that although the GIIF board had initially approved an “in-principle” support for the Sky Train project, no final investment decision had been formally endorsed.
Despite this, the leadership made up of the CEO and board chair proceeded to transfer $2 million as part of a convertible loan agreement to AIHL, which is registered in Mauritius and was the vehicle being used to execute the proposed $2.6 billion infrastructure project.
“The payment of USD2 million was executed without board approval, and no effort was made to recover the funds despite a breach in the condition precedent,” the witness statement read.
Koranteng notes that the due diligence report prepared by GIIF’s internal team, led by its former Chief Investment Officer, had highlighted serious concerns.
It found that AIHL had “no assets, no track record, and only one director,” casting doubt on its capacity to deliver a project of such scale. Nevertheless, the payment went ahead, authorised solely by the CEO and the board chair at the time.
The agreement required AIHL to secure a Rail Concession Agreement (RCA) with the Ghanaian government as a condition precedent. However, the company failed to meet this requirement, and the project never progressed to implementation.
Koranteng also disclosed in his witness statement as the investigator that, following the change in leadership, GIIF attempted to retrieve the funds through formal demand letters, but these efforts were unsuccessful.
