Former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), Solomon Asamoah, has maintained that there is documentary evidence showing that the GIIF Board approved a US$2 million investment for the Accra Sky Train Project.
This position was put before the Criminal Division of the High Court in Accra on Monday during cross-examination of a prosecution witness in the ongoing trial over the Sky Train transaction.
Through his Counsel, Victoria Barth, Mr Asamoah argued that board processes were duly followed and that the decision to invest US$2 million for a 10 per cent equity stake in the project development company received approval at board level.
Ms Barth, while cross-examining the first prosecution witness (PW1) and former GIIF board member, Mr Yaw Odame-Darkwa, referred the court to Exhibit 24D, an internal memo, which states that “GIIF is seeking board approval to take up the offer to acquire a 10% equity stake in the project development company at the discounted price of US$2M.”
Counsel further suggested that an Investment Committee (IC) meeting held on September 28, 2018, did take place and approved two projects – the Accra Sky Train and the Woodfields fuel storage project – a claim the witness disputed, insisting that he would only rely on documentary evidence.
Under cross-examination, Mr Odame-Darkwa admitted that certain explanations he gave in court about how committee reports were presented were not captured in the official board minutes tendered as Exhibit 4.
He also conceded that the Sky Train project was listed under the broad heading “Dealing with requests for funding” in the minutes and that Item 7.1 of the same exhibit referenced an approval involving a US$2 million investment in the Sky Train project.
However, the witness insisted that, to the best of his understanding, the board did not approve the project or the disbursement of funds at that stage, arguing that the project was still at the Investment Committee level.
He told the court that what management conveyed to the board was conditional on future approvals.
Despite this, Mr Odame-Darkwa acknowledged that the wording in both the draft and signed versions of the October 24, 2018 board minutes – relating to the US$2 million investment and a 10 per cent equity stake was largely the same, and that he did not submit any corrections to the acting board secretary.
Ms Barth further led the witness to confirm that an emergency board meeting held on November 19, 2018, discussed the Accra Sky Train project and the Chief Executive Officer’s travel to South Africa, where a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been executed on November 12, 2018.
From the same emergency meeting minutes (Exhibit 6), the witness confirmed that the board was informed that GIIF had become part of the AI Sky Train Consortium Holdings in South Africa, although he maintained that board members still had concerns about the project’s structure and agreements.
An objection raised by the Deputy Attorney-General on the relevance of certain questions was upheld, with the court directing counsel to rephrase.
The witness also confirmed that the GIIF board reviewed and approved the Fund’s audited financial statements before they were signed and submitted to the Auditor-General.
The case has been adjourned to January 20, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. for continuation of proceedings.
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The post Asamoah insists GIIF board approved US$2m for Accra Sky Train appeared first on The Ghanaian Chronicle.
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