KEY POINTS
- Trafigura is demanding $134 million from Ghana for a judgment debt.
- The debt arose from a cancelled power purchase agreement.
- Ghana’s assets abroad are at risk if the debt remains unpaid.
In its move to reclaim $134 million judgment debt against Ghana, global oil trader Trafigura has threatened to seize Ghana’s assets abroad if the government does not comply.
With many efforts to recover the debt for years being unsuccessful, Trafigura has even laid a claim over one of Ghana’s important property assets in London known as Regina House.
Now, the company has warned that it may begin to target Ghana’s assets in South Africa.
The dispute over unpaid debt
The debt arose from a terminated power purchase agreement that had existed between the government of Ghana and a foreign power company called GPGC. In the year 2018, Ghana scrapped the agreement and this led to a legal war that came to the favour of GPGC in a UK tribunal.
The U.K. tribunal ruled that $134 million was to be paid by Ghana as damages including cost of interest and arbitration for breach of the agreement between GPGC and the Republic of Ghana. But this amount was never paid up wholly by Ghana as other instalments were made.
Since then, Trafigura has endeavoured for four years to retrieve the money but all attempt were unsuccessul, this led to a judgment of a US Court which added interest of $111.4 million.
According to a report by MyJoyOnline, the company recently presented a petition to Ghana’s Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam on the issue calling on the government to pay the debt, with failure to do so leading to the sale of more of Ghana’s assets outside the country.
Legal action heats up
Trafigura has responded sharply that it has no intention to step back. The organization has already embarked on the legal process of trying to reclaim the lost money by institutionalizing a case in one of the U.S. District courts.
Trafigura won this case after the petition by Ghana never received any response in court as per the time stipulated.
Now, the court’s decision has placed more monetary burdens on Ghana by including a post-judgment interest on the above Ghana’s debts. Trafigura’s petition to the Finance Ministry highlighted their frustration over the government’s delays in settling the debt, despite multiple negotiation attempts.
