I am not a shareholder of PDS – Sekondi MP

General News on Friday, August 2nd, 2019

Source: citinewsroom.com

2019-08-02

Sekondi MP Andrew Egyapa Mercer denied being a shareholder in Power Distribution Services (PDS) even though he was a director of one of the local companies that held shares in PDS.

According to him, he was only hired as a lawyer to register one of the companies, TG Energy Solutions Ghana Limited, in 2014.

"I have no interest in PDS. I am not a shareholder [of PDS]I am not a director of PDS either. In 2014, while I was practicing as a lawyer, some people of my acquaintance asked me to incorporate a company for them. The name of the company was given to me by these people and of course they gave me the name of a person who intends to be the director and ask me to be the other director or the secretary of the company. the company – an activity that many lawyers do as part of their job. I have therefore proceeded to the constitution of the company. I got the certificate of incorporation on June 24, 2014 and that's the end of my involvement, "he said Thursday in Eyewitness News.

He made these comments in response to the badertions of the editor of the Herald Newspaper, Larry Alan Dogbe, who sought to involve him, along with two others, in the debacle of the PDS concession.

PDS had been accused by the government of providing false documents in order to win the takeover concession of the Ghana Electricity Corporation.

Larry Dogbe, among others, accused Mr. Mercer of a conflict of interest in the transaction with PDS.

He stated that the MP, who is one of the directors of TG Energy Solutions, was in Parliament when the PDS concession agreement was ratified, without declaring his interest.

He told Umaru Sanda Amadu, in Eyewitness News, that such an act on the part of the MP was clearly a case of conflict of interest.

"When we went to the Registrar General to get the registration document from TG Energy Solutions [Limited] we noticed his name as director, secretary and lawyer of the same company. We did it at the time when he had sat in Parliament to pbad the same agreement. And he took advantage as a lawyer of the same company. It was not good with us. So, when we called him to establish a conflict of interest situation, he virtually rejected the claims, "he added.

"The location of the office on the registration document is that of the Egyapa law firm. So, he can not be an ordinary administrator as he has said. He is also the company's lawyer and has sat in Parliament to approve the same agreement, "insisted Mr. Dogbe.

Responding to Eyewitness News' badertions, Mr. Mercer insisted that he was unaware that TG Energy Solutions had been involved in a fraudulent activity.

The MP for Sekondi also stated that he had no prior knowledge of TG Energy Solutions' participation in the PDS concession until the concession agreement was submitted to the Parliament for ratification.

"I had a fiduciary duty and the law had enjoined me to act in the best interest of the company. I am not aware that TG Energy Solutions Ghana Limited has been involved in fraudulent activities for which the responsibility of myself as secretary secretary, "he insisted.

Mr. Mercer also insisted that he was not in a situation of conflict of interest, as the Herald Newspaper claims.

"I have no interest, be it in PDS, the legal entity called Energy Distribution Services."

"In 2018, a colleague of Parliament informed me that certain documents had arrived in Parliament and that my name was there … It turned out that the company that I incorporated for the account a customer was a stakeholder of a consortium of PDS won a concession contract for the management of the ECG. So I called the person who hired me to incorporate the company. I just asked him if you were going to participate in this agreement and you did not inform me. And he told me that he would call me back.

"I am very focused, I have never committed an offense or committed a crime. My relationship with TG Energy Solutions is well documented. I did not deny my involvement in society. I am not a director of PDS. So, they can make their own conjectures and the good people of this country will judge, "he added.