The Corporate Affairs Manager of the Ghana Exim Bank, Richard Anane, has admitted that the bank made some upfront payments to artiste, Shatta Wale, and actor, Agya Koo through a company it contracted for the purposes of promoting “Made in Ghana” goods.

He has however stressed that the amounts of GH¢2 million quoted for Shatta Wale and GH¢ 250,000 for Agya koo are false.

Speaking to Joy FM’s News Night programme on Thursday September, 10, Mr. Anane explained that the contractual agreements reached with the artistes bar the bank from publicly disclosing the amounts paid to the artistes.

But he insisted that the amounts are way below the amounts alleged by Member of Parliament (MP) for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak, who first raised the issue at the Public Accounts Committee(PAC) meeting earlier this week.

“We are not misusing the banks funds…the amount that we are giving to these artistes is not that amount that is out of range. It is not!” he emphasized.

Mr Anane maintained that the bank followed every legal process in giving the contract, and remains accountable to the public.

“…We are a public institution. And we are answerable to public institutions. This case came about because an Honourable member alleged that we have paid an amount of GHC 2million to ambassadors. And the bank is stating emphatically that we have not paid that amount to an ambassador…We are ready to be answerable,” he stated.

There is growing controversy over allegations by Hon. Ras Mubarak that the bank made the payments to Shatta Wale and Agya Koo as brand ambassadors for the bank.