{"id":312038,"date":"2017-04-19T06:00:26","date_gmt":"2017-04-19T06:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=312038"},"modified":"2017-04-19T06:00:26","modified_gmt":"2017-04-19T06:00:26","slug":"ameri-paying-for-dubai-trip-was-sensible-under-the-circumstances-ag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/04\/ameri-paying-for-dubai-trip-was-sensible-under-the-circumstances-ag\/","title":{"rendered":"Ameri paying for Dubai trip was sensible under the circumstances – AG"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo, believes the Philip Addison-led committee investigating the AMERI deal did not compromise itself by allowing the company it was investigating to fund its trip to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Eyewitness News<\/strong>, Madam Akuffo said embarking on the AMERI-paid trip to Dubai was \u201ca sensible position to take,\u201d given the circumstances.<\/p>\n According to the Attorney General, the meetings forming part of the investigation into the deal were to take place in Accra.<\/p>\n But one of the representatives of AMERI indicated his or her unavailability, thus it became necessary that the meeting should be moved to Dubai.<\/p>\n The Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, however, put his foot down and said any possible trip by the 17-member committee was not going to be done on Ghana\u2019s purse.<\/p>\n She, however, stressed that she only spoke with knowledge of the reasoning for the moving of the meeting from Accra to Dubai.<\/p>\n The Attorney General recounted that \u201cthe position taken by the Minister was that, we are not going to bear the cost. We are not going to throw good money after bad. We have agreed that we hold the meeting here, we are trying to cut back on our losses and we would not be incurring additional debt to relocate to that place.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo the other party [Ameri] said we are prepared to bear the cost. As to whether they were feted or given per diem, I do not know. I do not have anything on my desk. I do not know about these extra things being spoken about.\u201d<\/p>\n Nothing nefarious\u00a0at play<\/strong><\/p>\n The Minority in Parliament has ridden on the detail of the AMERI-funded trip to Dubai to allege malfeasance<\/a><\/strong><\/span> on the part of the\u00a0Philip Addison-led committee, and has further said it will be petitioning the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).<\/p>\n But Madam Akuffo said, in her view, there was no ill-intent on the part of the committee or AMERI.<\/p>\n “My understanding was that it was a matter of engaging with a view of coming to some amicable resolution of the observations the committee had made in studying documents. It is not as though you have a policeman trying to catch a robber then the robber suddenly feeds him. I do not see it as that,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n