General Shipping and Trading Services (GSTS) on Thursday described as false and malicious, media reports that alleged the company had stolen crude oil from Saltpond Offshore Producing Company Limited (SOPCL).

In a rejoinder to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mr Justice Asare, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GSTS explained that sometime in April this year, the company entered into a contract with Imperial Ventures Ltd, a Ghanaian company owned by Mr Chaouki Fattal, for the sale and purchase of crude oil.

“As a result, GSTS issued a bank guarantee to Imperial Ventures Ltd to secure payment of any crude oil to be supplied to GSTS. Pursuant to the agreement, Imperial Venture Ltd supplied 24,332 barrels of oil to GSTS.”

Mr Asare emphasised that GSTS had no contract with SOPLC or Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to sell and/or buy Ghana’s crude oil.

“It is therefore completely false that GSTS had agreed to the arrangement of any letters of credit before the sail of the vessel. Indeed, GSTS has rendered logistic support to SOPLC to the tune of $762,000.00 which SOPLC has been unable to pay since January 2013,” the CEO stated.

He said it was preposterous for SOPLC to further accuse GSTS and its CEO of forgery without specifying the nature of the alleged forged documents, adding that “GSTS will not undermine its corporate values by indulging in any sort of illegality to the detriment of any person let alone the Government of the Republic of Ghana”.

Meanwhile, further checks by the GNA revealed that the allegation about some released document suggesting that the vessel had been arrested was false.