It's 'patently false' to claim Adu Boahen's Black Star firm engaged in $5m MIIF financial loss - Management

The management of Black Star - a company belonging to Charles Adu Boahen - has rejected claims that it engaged in some $5 million financial loss to the state through Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) in Asante Gold.

According to the company, it was never engaged as an advisor for the said investment and thus the public should

Read full articleignore the widely reported claims in the media completely.

In a press statement issued on Wednesday, August 24, Black Star indicated that the report forms part of an “orchestrated scheme to push false and misleading narratives about our company.”

“This is patently false and deliberately misleading. Black Star was never engaged by MIIF, as falsely alleged, to advise it on any private placement to do with the shares of Asante Gold Corporation,” the statement stressed.

The management in the statement further explained, “Black Star treats all allegations against it seriously and will review all internal processes and take appropriate action where necessary to safeguard all its stakeholders.

“Lastly, the management of the Black Star would also like to reassure all stakeholders that they have always adhered to all regulatory requirements and have executed their mandate to the highest standards of practice in the financial markets.”

The Ministry of Finance has, on the other hand, dismissed a similar report that Databank and Black Star Brokerage – linked to Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen were handpicked by the Ministry and Bank of Ghana to act as Bond Market Specialists for government bond issuance, hence benefiting from those transactions.

In a statement, the Ministry explained that “the selection of the Primary Dealers [PDs] and Bond Market Specialists [BMSs] is an automatic process based on market performance and historical secondary market trading activity which is publicly available and cannot be manipulated by the Ministry of Finance [MoF] or the Bank of Ghana [BoG].

“Since 1996, the Ministry of Finance with the Bank of Ghana has developed and implemented various policies which affect the issuance and trading of Government of Ghana debt securities (Treasuries and Bonds). The ultimate objectives of these policies are to develop an efficient fixed income market, strengthen the capacity of local institutions and deepen financial intermediation."

It indicated, however, that Databank and Black Star Brokerage are two out of nine firms that have been selected by BoG/MoF as Bond Market Specialists and not Advisors to MoF, adding, “the other firms selected to be BMSs are – Ecobank, Stanbic Bank, ABSA, Cal Bank, GCB Bank, Fidelity Bank, and IC Securities. As stated above, the selection of the firms was solely based on their historical performance on the Bond Market and no other consideration”.