Government denies 1.5 tons of gold transaction with Iran

The office of the President has discounted reports that Ghana has hauled 1.5 tons of gold intended to settle some financial commitments it has with the government of Iran, to Turkey.

A statement released by Policy Think Tank, Danquah Institute (DI) indicated that Turkish authorities had seized 1.5tons of gold in a Turkish Airline cargo plane bound for Dubai en route to Instanbul’s Ataturk Airport in Turkey.

The institute demanded answers from President John Mahama as to the reasons that necessitated the deal.

According to DI, they smell a rat in the transaction; since the deal was done on the blind side of Ghanaians.

But Spokesperson for the President, John Jinapor has debunked the reports which have attracted some international media outlets, saying they are all falsehood.

John Jinapor in an interview with Peace FM, said the story is untrue because no such transaction has gone on between the Iranian government and the government of Ghana.

He explained that "First of all, Ghana doesn’t settle financial transactions with gold and so it cannot be the case. Secondly, government does not sell gold and so it is not true that there has been such an involvement. We’ve spoken to the Governor of Bank of Ghana and Seth Terkper and they have all confirmed that the story is not true.”

He continued: "There is no truth that the government of Ghana has taken gold somewhere and it has been confiscated.”

"I can confirm that so far all the checks I have done and all the authorities I have spoken to indicate that the story being alleged is false…"


Nevertheless, the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, Gabby Otchere Darko insists the story is not fabricated and therefore expressed disappointment in the President’s Spokesperson for showing sheer ignorance of the case.

According to him, “The story was reported by the Turkish official news agency and it was even carried by Mehr News Agency(MNA) and so this cannot be concocted. What he has said is even more worrying: for him to deny that government has no knowledge of the issue...he has raised more questions than answers. He shouldn’t use his ignorance to discredit the story he knows nothing about. The information he gave is wrong…”, adding that John Jinapor “as a government spokesperson, he should know better” before making such utterances.


From: Adu Gyamfi Ameyaw