…Airport And Registrar General’s Files Reveal Private Transaction To Dubai Not Iran

The Herald’s investigations into the US$80 million supposed gold consignment detained by Turkish authorities over documents concerns, have revealed that neither President John Mahama nor the government of Ghana is connected to the gold onboard a cargo aircraft.

Cited official papers, some of which have been traced to the Ghana Armed Forces, indeed suggest a 419 gold scam, schemed strikingly to coincide with the Iranian Foreign Minister, Dr. Ali Akbar Salehi’s visit to Ghana, President Mahama’s official trip to Turkey and the release of the cargo aircraft.

Documentary evidence (See Page 1 & 2 ) from the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the Registrar-General’s Department have linked a mining company, Omanye Gold Mining Limited, owned by Frederick Kojo Essumang and Peter Kofi Bedzra with Post Office Box, 293, Mile 7, Achimota, Accra as its business address, as the possible shippers of the gold bars onboard the chartered cargo flight.

A certain Mr. Mohadi with telephone number 0544799069 has also been mentioned on “Landing Clearance Request” to the GCAA as the person who chartered the aircraft from Libya on behalf of Omanye Gold Mining Limited. Meanwhile, his telephone has since been off.

Again the US$80 million supposed gold was not on its way to the Islamic Republic of Iran to pay off a bilateral transaction between the government of Ghana and the Iranian government as claimed by the Executive Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) think tank, Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare-Othere-Darko.

The 1.5 ton gold valued at US$80 million was rather on its way to the Dubai with one Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Azerbaijani based in both Azerbaijan and Dubai as the owner and recipient of the precious minerals onboard the aircraft, which only passed through Ghana from Tripoli-Libya on its way to Istanbul-Turkey.

Details of the documents from the GCAA (picture at the front page), revealed the name of the aircraft as USL Airlines Cargo with the address of the operators as UAS, HDQ, Post Office Box 54482, Dubai, U.A.E.

An agent by name John Ametame, made a “Landing Clearance Request” to the GCAA on December 27, 2012 on behalf of the charterer, Omanye Gold Mining Limited, to enable the airline to spend 72 hours here in Ghana before leaving for Turkey.

He identified the type of cargo onboard the aircraft as gold bars with date of arrival of the aircraft in Ghana given as December 28, 2012. The name of the pilot, his nationality as well as the other persons onboard the aircraft was not provided to the GCAA by the said John Ametame.

On that same day after the “Landing Clearance Request” was made by John Ametame on behalf of Omanye Gold Mining Limited, it was forwarded to the Ghana Air Force Headquarters for approval, which was subsequently given by one Squadron Leader Osei-Owusu also on behalf of the Director of Air Force Operations at Burma Camp-Accra.

Meanwhile, additional checks carried out at the Registrar General’s Department identified Omanye Gold Mining Limited’s authorized business as “mining” and “dealers in precious minerals and export”.

The company’s registration number at the Registrar General’s Department is CA-98,960. Frederick Kojo Essumang, one of the listed owners of the company has a residential address of House Number 15 Lane Osu-Accra with his occupation as Businessman/Technician.

Peter Kofi Bedra, the other listed owner of the company, has House Number TH/9 Tantra Hill Achimota-Accra as his residence, but shockingly has “businesswoman” as his occupation.

Again Frederick Kojo Essumang, was identified as the secretary of the Omanye Gold Mining Limited.

Magsam & Associates with Post Office Box, AT 2430, Achimota, Accra as their address, has been listed as the auditors of the Omanye Gold Mining Limited.

Gold Mining Limited was registered at the Registrar General’s Department on Friday, December 9, 2011 by one Owusua A Ofori and given a certificate to commence business on Thursday, December, 22, 2011.

On January 19, 2013, Mehr News Agency (MNA), a private Iranian news agency, reported that Turkey had released a cargo plane full of Gold from Ghana “carrying Ghana’s commitment to Iran in gold.”

On January 2, 2013, Turkish authorities seized the 1.5 tonne of gold on a Turkish Airlines cargo plane bound for Dubai en route to Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport in Turkey. The Turkish authorities claim the gold lacked the necessary papers needed before it could be transported.

It was, however, realised that the information given to the authorities was not entirely true because nobody knew where the cargo originated from or where its destination was, even though the gold onboard the plane bore the Ghanaian seal.

After the seizure in Turkey, the Iranian Foreign Minister came to Ghana for a closed-door meeting with President Mahama on January 8, 2013.

President Mahama’s next official assignment outside Africa was to Turkey. But that official trip and subsequent release of the gold-carrying aircraft has turned out to be coincidental and not an exercise for the release of the gold haul.

Lawyer Otchere-Darko, last Saturday told Accra-based Joy FM that the NPP has a purposely calculated plan to “deny the President residence within his zone of political comfort”.

He wrote; “Am listening to the voices against NPP boycott of parliamentary vetting and the difficulty is that they are arguing on logic. But the NPP action is not about what is logical but what is political. The fact that the boycott is news drums home the political point that the NPP wants to push that these are not really normal political times.

The party is right to use all legitimate political means to deny the President residence within his zone of political comfort. That is the message people must understand. After all, we saw the kind of quality that was on display at the two vetting sittings! It’s all good. Gabby”.