A US federal jury has convicted former Goldman Sachs banker Asante Kwaku Berko over a $1 million bribery scheme involving Ghanaian officials to procure an emergency power plant during the period of long power supply challenges in 2014. Asante Berko, who also served as Managing Director of Tema Oil Refinery between 2009 and 2013, was extradited from his base in the United Kingdom to the United States to stand trial in his alleged role of a bribery case in the award of a Power Purchase Contract with Turkish firm Aksa Enerji worth millions of dollars.
According to the US Department of Justice citing evidence adduced during the trial, Asante Berko, 52, and his co-conspirators “paid and conspired to pay bribes to individuals at numerous levels of the Ghanaian government to ensure that the Turkish Energy company won its bid to build and operate the power plant” where the conspirators discussed to pay $1 million to the then Minister of Power who was responsible for securing the necessary approvals for the project to take off.
“Bribes were also paid to five Ghanaian officials during an all-expenses-paid trip to Turkey to view equipment for the power plant, during which the officials each received $5,000. After the power plant deal was ratified by the Ghanaian parliament in July 2015, Berko and his co-conspirators emailed about their bribe payments at length”, the DOJ statement continued
Berko is said to have lied to the compliance team at Goldman Sachs in an attempt to conceal the scheme from the team who were responsible for vetting the said transaction. Berko used his personal email address in the discussion about the bribes. He and his co-conspirators also laundered the bribe payments using shell companies, sham invoices, nominee account holders and cash withdrawals. “Payments in furtherance of the bribery scheme were laundered through U.S. and foreign bank accounts, including several in Berko’s name. Goldman ultimately withdrew from the deal due to corruption concerns”, the statement added
The period between 2015-2016 marked a turbulent moment in Ghana as the nation experienced power supply shortages due mainly to under-production of electricity at the Volta River Authority’s Akosombo Dam hydroelectric facility. The supply challenge resulted in unscheduled cuts to neighbourhoods and business enclaves around the country driving citizens to christen as “dumsor” literally translating as ‘on-off’ in the Twi language. During that period, the government led by John Dramani Mahama split the then Ministry of Energy and Petroleum creating Ministry of Power whose mandate was specifically addressing the dumsor phenomenon permanently. The president tapped a legislator belonging to the governing party, Kwabena Donkor as Minister for Power. Dr. Donkor then signed Power Purchase Agreements including Karadeniz Powership Aysegul Sultan (Karpower) from Turkiye, Aksa Enerjie, Sunon Asogli among others. By December, 2016 dumsor was over with an installed power capacity of 3,795 mega watts comprised of a generating mix of 57.8 percent thermal, 41.6 percent hydro, and 0.6 percent solar.
The jury on Thursday, August 6, convicted Berko of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), violating the FCPA, and money laundering conspiracy. Sentencing is set for November 10. Mr. Berko faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.
Speaking after the conviction hearing, Assistant US Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said, “We live in a global economy that American companies must be able to compete in fairly”
“This defendant corrupted that fair competition. He abused his position at a world-renowned American investment bank by helping bribe Ghanaian officials, so he and his co-conspirators, including senior executives at a Turkish company, could make money. Today’s conviction makes clear that criminals who undermine our country’s interests by corrupting foreign governments and cutting off fair competition will face the full force of the Department of Justice.”
Asante Berko’s conviction has raised several questions by a section of the Ghanaian populace with some calling for an investigation by Ghanaian authorities on officials who were involved in the bribery scheme. The Government of Ghana is yet to comment on the conviction.