PAC unhappy with DIC over divested state companies

The Public Account Committee (PAC) on Monday reached the conclusion that the Board and other officers connected to Divestiture Implementation Committee’s (DIC) Report are needed to help clarify the Auditor General’s report on divested companies.

They reached this conclusion during the ongoing PAC examination in which officials of DIC including Mr Richard Nana Akuffo, Head of Finance and Administration, seemed unable to provide the needed responses to some pertinent issues.

Other institutions meeting the PAC include Private Sector Development Strategy Fund, and the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).

Chaired by Mr Kwaku Agyeman Manu, PAC is seeking responses to pertinent issues concerning their affairs during the period 31 December 2010 and 2011.

Some of the inadequate responses encountered by members of the Committee include questions on why some companies put on divestiture list were not operating and yet their staffs were paid; and why some divested companies after being sold to investors, who did make full payment, are being resold.

When queried about sale of La Beach Hotel and Tema Ship Yard, Mr Akuffo told the Committee members, that an expatriate who bought the La Beach Hotel, could not make full payment and resold it to SSNIT adding that the Tema Ship Yard was also bought by an investor who made part payment and refused to pay the rest.

Mr Atta Akyea Samuel, MP for Akim Abuakwa South, and other members of the Committee questioned the basis for such deals and due to the inadequate responses received, they reached the conclusion that other members connected to the DIC Report would be needed to help clarify the situation.

Source: GNA