As part of the exposé that was published last Monday, investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his Tiger Eye P.I. targeted the minister of finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, in 2018, but were unable to catch him.
According to information revealed in Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ “Galamsey Economy” documentary, which had its world premiere on November 14, 2022, at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC), the investigation’s primary goal was to bring Ken Ofori-Atta, the actual finance minister, into the fold.
It had been just over a year since the New Patriotic Party replaced the National Democratic Congress as the ruling party.
It has also come to light that Anas Aremeyaw Anas used a Ministry of Finance employee, who was at the time a Senior Economics Officer, to gain access to the Deputy Minister. The same employee also introduced the private attorney to the fictitious bankers from Al Baraka Islamic Bank, Bahrain, and later arranged for Ken Ofori-Atta to meet the minister, but the meeting was unsuccessful.
According to reports, Charles Adu Boahen spent almost an hour on February 8 in Dubai describing the banking industry to a group he thought was interested in spending $500 million to establish a bank in Ghana.
Our checks show that he was offered what he was led to believe was “shopping money” following the meeting in a hotel suite instead of asking for money.
After months of attempting, the investigators were able to secure a meeting with Ken Ofori-Atta with the help of their go-to man, one civil servant named Solomon Amponsah, who serves as a Principal Economics Officer in the Ministry of Finance’s External Resource Mobilization and Economic Relation Division.
On April 8, 2018, they were able to arrange a stopover meeting with Ken Ofori-Atta in Dubai as he and his PA were traveling to Japan via the United Arab Emirates.
Mr. Ofori-Atta was informed that the meeting was with the chairman of the Al Baraka Islamic Bank of Bahrain, who was interested in investing $500 million to establish a “ethical” bank in Ghana.
According to our findings, the meeting lasted for around five minutes and included Mr. Solomon Amponsah and a Ghanaian lawyer.
According to reports, Ken Ofori-Atta left upset after being presented with a “gift” that he rejected. He reportedly walked out with his PA, who had also been presented with a “gift” that was also rejected.
The contact with Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, was not featured in the Tiger Eye P.I. investigative episode that debuted at the AICC on November 14 and 15.
Given that the trap’s intended victim escaped, it’s uncertain if it will appear in any upcoming Anas Aremeyaw Anas films.
Nevertheless, the documentary that aired on Monday continued to paint both Charles Adu Boahen and Ken Ofori-Atta in a negative light, alleging a conflict of interest due to the routine business activities of the financial firms they both founded separately years before they entered politics, the Databank Group and Black Star Brokerage, respectively.