12yr-old BOST pipelines deal: Captain Smart vindicated after being sent to court
A 12-year-old contract that landed Captain Smart in court for defamation in a $63-million BOST pipeline scandal has finally been ‘admitted’ by the MD of the Company, vindicating the Ace broadcaster.
The Bost Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited, (BOST) commenced procurement of the pipelines in 2008 but has delayed for 12 years due to managerial setbacks.
But the MD of the Company, Edwin Provencal, has told Citi Business processes have advanced for Ghana to take delivery of the pipeslines.
On Onua TV/FM’s ‘Maakye’ Thursday, August 2, 2021, Captain Smart noted he was sued for defamation over a missing amount in the deal he unearthed on radio. But the case was adjourned sine dine.
Few years after joining the Multimedia Group’s Adom FM, he repeated same story and got another suit, “and I was asked to pay an amount of GH₵1 million for defamation, render on apology on 15 radio and 3 Television stations, and then I should apologise to any Ghanaian I meet outside the borders of Ghana.”
Out of the amount earmarked for the project then, $14 million got missing, the reason Captain Smart said he was sued for defamation.
“…After that, $14m got missing in 2008/2009 and that was the reason I was sent to court. They signed a new contract of $22m. The actual value was $44.4million (The reason I referred to Mahama as BOST pipes when he got 44.4% in the 2016 election) but we ended up spending $63m and no leader was sensible enough to go for them (pipelines),” he narrated.
The damage he suffered then included an on-air suspension at multimedia, where he was denied legal assistance by the company. He added it took the CEO of the media house, Kwasi Twum, to come to his (Smart) house to listen to the replay of the show, before asking him to resume work.
“I was suspended and told this one the company cannot give you a lawyer so I had to pay the lawyer with my own pocket money. Kwasi Twum (CEO of Multimedia) had to drive to my house, listen to a replay of the show in my hall before asking me to come back to work”
The vilifications he suffered included that of “a colleague at work then –newscaster and he’s that short –told me all I know is to say nonsense on air. Now I should go and pay my debt to the court’.”
Captain Smart, however, indicated an interview with then Energy Minister under John Agyekum Kufuor, Joseph Kofi Kowe Adda, was what saved him.
He averred Mr. Adda’s admission to signing some documents pertaining the said pipelines was what got him (Smart) relieved of the rustication he encountered and its associated punishments.
“Kofi Addah was then sector Minister –in 2008 –and what saved me was Kofi Addah’s interview where he said ‘the documents were brought before me and I signed’. That’s what made them say it is then true for my query to be reversed.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Provencal, the BOST MD, also told Citi Business an additional $8million was required to repair some of the damaged pipelines as a result of exposure to weather conditions due to the lengthy period of delay.
“We started the procurement of these pipelines in 2009 with an EXIM facility. Fast-forward to today, the pipelines are still stuck in the United States of America, Houston to be precise. My two predecessors started sandblasting and repairing the pipelines. The good news is that by the end of August 2021, the shipment of the pipeline will commence.”
“We have procured a logistics provider to visit the site for the pipes and assess the facilities, and the firm tells us that the pipes are good and ready to be shipped to Ghana. Unfortunately, a hundred and nine of them have been damaged and an additional US$8 million had to be used to repair them, but the remaining are all in good shape,” the BOST MD explained to Citi Business.
