Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has challenged GoldBod’s reliance on its audited accounts to defend its financial performance, arguing that the reported profit does not address alleged losses associated with its gold purchasing and trading operations.
Addressing the media in Parliament, the Effutu MP said the financial performance of GoldBod must be considered alongside the impact of its operations on the Bank of Ghana’s balance sheet.
“We the minority are not here to really relegate the profit of Gold Board. The profit Gold Board has published it in its own account. We are here because what happened of the books, the operations, the free fee structures, the discounted sales that made that profit possible in the first place. Substance must always be judged over form.”
His comments follow GoldBod’s position that its audited accounts recorded a profit rather than the losses being discussed by the Minority.
Afenyo-Markin argued that GoldBod could not claim revenue from its gold trading activities while associated losses were reflected on the books of the central bank.
“Gold Board took Bank of Ghana’s money to assay gold and collect its fees. It cannot claim the credit that comes with the revenue while pushing every loss into Bank of Ghana’s balance sheets.”
He said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had identified service and assay fees, discounts on gold sold to off-takers and exchange-rate differences among the factors behind the losses.
“This is precisely why Bank of Ghana has decided to stop Gold Board’s gold purchasing operation going forward.”
The Minority Leader also questioned the identity of the off-takers and why gold was allegedly sold at discounted prices.
“We are asking straightforward questions and we expect straightforward answers. Who are the offtakers? Why were sales discounted? And why is the mandate to trade gold on the country’s behalf producing losses the country was never told about?”
Afenyo-Markin said the Minority intends to seek a parliamentary investigation into the matter, with the proposed probe expected to examine the transactions and the relationship between GoldBod’s reported profits and the losses allegedly reflected on the Bank of Ghana’s books.
The development comes amid growing debate over the financial implications of the government’s domestic gold purchase programme and the role of GoldBod in the purchase and trading of Ghana’s gold.
