Former Trade Minister, Dan Abodakpi says there was nothing illegal or fraudulent in the payment of monies to the Goldshield Contact Services by the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC).

Reacting to a story in the Weekend Agenda newspaper, Mr. Abodakpi denied that the company is a ghost company, explaining that they had a contract with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) for the provision of specific services relating to Ghana’s bid to enter the East Asian Investment Market.

The Weekend Agenda had reported that the DIC was by letter requested to pay Goldshield Services $400,000 as a contribution towards the company’s operational cost for coordinating trade and investment promotion activities involving Ghana and a number of South-East Asian countries. It described the company as a ghost company, owned by the Atekpe’s who are relatives of Mr. Abodakpi.

In a statement, Mr. Abodakpi who is also the Member of Parliament for Keta said he is in no way related to the Atekpe’s whose company is duly registered at the Registrar General’s department. The statement explained that the Multilateral Investment Guaranty Agency (MIGA) introduced Goldshield to the GIPC, which later signed a contract with the company. The statement said Goldshield piloted the investment drives in South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. On the payment of $400,000 by the DIC, the statement explained that because the finances of GIPC was over-stretched beneficiary agencies including the DIC were contacted to assist settle outstanding payments to Goldshield.