A search conducted by Dunn and Bradstreet, the leading search company in the world has revealed that Kofi Wayo has no shares in OPA Inc, which has expressed interest in the Divestiture of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR). This is contrary to claims by Kofi Wayo, whose real name is Charles Eric Paterson Simmons that he owns 10 per cent shares in the company. Mr. Wayo has in the past week, accused the Energy Ministry and certain NPP officials of thwarting his efforts to purchase TOR.

But Energy Minister, Albert Kan Dapaah says investigations revealed that the company is owned by a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Christian Homeier. He said the search also established that the staff strength of OPA stands at 14 and that the firm had also not filed any statutory returns by law. For this reason, no financial information could be traced.

Mr. Dapaah said a second search conducted by another firm also revealed that OPA stands for Oil Producers Association Inc, an association comprising 366 members whose only shareholders are the couple, Mr Christain Homeier, the President and Mrs. Renee Homeier, Secretary. Further investigations also revealed that OPA was formed primarily to allow its members to trade in crude oil and therefore it is not ?a company that acts like an operating corporation.?

Throwing more light on Mr Wayo?s dealings, Mr Kan Dapaah said My Wayo first approached the Ministry of Energy during the NDC regime as the Senior Vice-President of SFO Petroleum Inc, with a request to be given the contract to undertake phase II of the TOR modernization project and also request that government should provide a sovereign guarantee for the loan package associated with the project. The NDC explained to him that it did not intend to provide the loan guarantee.

Mr. Kan Dapaah said his official contact with Mr. Wayo occurred in March 2001, when Mr. Wayo requested to be the Managing Director of TOR. When his application was rejected, he later informed the Ministry that he knew of a group of investors in America interested in refining of oil in Ghana. Mr. Wayo was however told that a decision has not been taken yet on the Tema Oil Refinery and that they will be informed of any such decision. He therefore expressed surprise at the allegations made by Wayo.

Mr. Wayo has however denied ever approaching the minister to be made Managing Director of the TOR. He also maintained that he owns shares in OPA and said Mr Dapaah only demonstrated that he is not informed about corporate systems in the US. According to him, there is what is called ?silent investment? and the identity of any investor is not disclosed. He declined further comments on the issue and called for public debate on the issue.