A former Board Member of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), Yaw Odame-Darkwa, has told the High Court in Accra that the controversial Sky Train project never received approval from the GIIF Board during his tenure.
Mr. Odame-Darkwa is the first prosecution witness in the $2 million financial loss case involving former GIIF CEO Solomon Asamoah and former Board Chair Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi. The two are accused of disbursing funds for work that was not completed and without Board approval.
Testifying on Monday, November 10, Odame-Darkwa said the project was only briefly mentioned at one meeting but was never deliberated upon, recommended by the Investment Committee, or formally approved by the Board.
The former board member, who served from 2017 to 2020, said he first learned of the alleged US$2 million payment linked to the Sky Train project after reading the Auditor-General’s report.
He emphasised that “a due diligence report should have been presented to the Board before any approval for disbursement,” but no such report was ever submitted.
Odame-Darkwa further asserted that minutes purporting to show Board discussions or approvals of the Sky Train project “do not accurately reflect the Board’s deliberations or decisions.”
He maintained that during his tenure, he acted “in the best interest of the Republic of Ghana” and would not have approved any disbursement without proper due diligence.
While the GIIF Board approved funding for several legitimate infrastructure projects under his term, the Sky Train concept was never formally proposed or sanctioned for funding.
“To the best of my recollection, the Board did not approve any funding for the Sky Train project during the period of my service,” he stated.