The Attorney General & Ministry of Justice, has confirmed the award
of damages amounting to GH¢197,491,874.00 in a case brought against the
state by Bankswitch Ghana.
Bankswitch, had filed before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, in The
Hague, the Netherlands for the payment of GH¢853 million in damages for
the cancellation of a contract signed with the Government of Ghana in
2007 for the management of a platform for the revenue mobilisation
programme of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
The contract, according to the Attorney General and Minister of
Justice, Mrs Marieta Brew Appiah-Oppong was signed at a time, the State
already had a contract with GCNET and a number of Destination Inspection
Companies (DICs) performing the same functions for which Bankswitch was
being contracted to perform.
The award by the court, following the arguments by the Attorney
General, is a reduction of about GH¢600 million from claims filed by
Bankswitch.
The Attorney General told the Daily Graphic that despite the signing of
the contract in 2007, the company had not started operations until
2009, following which the contract was terminated because of the
existence of the GCNET platform and DICs with which government still had
a contract.
Records from the hearings of the Court show that a number of public
servants and former government officials were at the Court to defend
Bankswitch, against the State.
Throwing light on the issue, the Minister of Information and Media
Relations, Mr Mahama Ayariga said he suspected that the then government
intended to phase out the GCNET and the DICs when their contract expired
and that might have informed the decision to contract the Bankswitch.
He said, however, that the government found nothing wrong with the
performance of GCNET and the DICs and, therefore, decided to renew their
contract.
Source: Graphic Online
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