The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers, Ghana (COPEC), has asked the Finance Ministry to halt any processes involving a loan facility of about GHS550 million being requested by the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) from GCB Bank.
COPEC is also requesting an audit to be carried out at BOST, as it could not fathom how the firm, which made huge profits in 2017, will seek such a huge amount of loan from GCB having been heavily indebted to other banks already.
“BOST is on record to have indicated making a whopping profit of GHS35million last year after trading.
“One would expect such a company whose net capital, less net operating expenses, leaves a surplus or profit of over GHS35million to be able to do either same volume of business if not more but BOST has not brought a single litre since the ‘donkomi’ sale in September.
“Sadly, however, the bad management decisions over the past one year, has seen BOST not only lose its goodwill or operating capital but currently reeling under a lot of debt which has now forced it onto the capital market to borrow a whopping $120,000.000.00 (one hundred and twenty million dollars) from a single bank for operations,” Executive Secretary, Mr Duncan Amoah stated in a press release on Thursday 5 April 2018.
He emphasised that the loan deal could potentially harm the financial sector “bearing in mind the collapse of a number of banks in recent times” hence the Finance Minister should not sanction the loan move.
Below is the full statement:
CHAMBER OF PETROLEUM CONSUMERS-GHANA
_FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE_5/04/08
DON’T LET BOST COLLAPSE GCB
The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation after very desperate attempts to inform Ghanaians it has done all the right things for which no investigation is needed is on the capital market looking to borrow monies for its activities, with GCB and the Finance Ministry as the new targets.
BOST is on record to have indicated making a whopping profit of GHS 35million last year after trading.
One would expect such a company whose net capital less net operating expenses leaves a surplus or profit of over GHS 35million to be able to do either same volume of business if not more but BOST has not brought a single litre since the ‘donkomi’ sale in September.
Sadly however the bad management decisions over the past one year has seen BOST not only lose its goodwill or operating capital but currently reeling under a lot of debts which has now forced it onto the capital market to borrow a whopping $120,000.000.00 (one hundred and twenty million dollars) from a single bank for operations.
BOST after incorporation in 1993 to hold strategic stocks and maintain fuel transportation systems for the country in recent times has added another mandate which is fuel trading to the original mandate.
The sad reality of what is happening at BOST today which has left them with only loses from fuel trading over the past year is the fact BOST doesn’t have any certified experienced fuel trader to help in that department and this has been amply reflected in the avoidable loses it has made over the past year.
BOST in March 2017 decided to take to the market some 5million litres of fuel that had been contaminated and which could be safely blended to be sold at optimum market of above GHS4/litre, was rather being sold or dumped and sold cheaply for GHS1.20/litre thereby effectively throwing away almost GHS3 on every single litre for 5 million litres.
Fast forward to September 2017 of same year and BOST through its bad management decisions, decides to offload another of its capital assets in crude to the tune of 1.8million litres then held at the Tema Oil Refinery to two companies, AOT and BB Energy.
It goes ahead to sell at a ‘donkomi’ of a -$2/barrel to BB energy though it could have easily negotiated at a little above $5/barrel considering the ancillary charges that had already been paid on the products In-tank, the rest of the 1.8 million barrels is then traded off to AOT on terms whose disclosure Ghanaians are yet to be provided or told.
In all, the people of Ghana are believed to have lost in excess of a minimum of $5million through this single transaction which has been referred to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for investigations due to possible financial losses and legal breaches.
It thus comes as no surprise that BOST today is roaming, looking for a bailout of a sort after engaging in very questionable and highly suspicious transactions using the state bank-GCB for that loan.
BOST following from frustrations in accessing this money which most Ghanaians believe will go down the drain the exact same way it has handled its own capital assets over the past one year has openly accused the Finance Ministry of refusing to Grant an illegal waiver of the single obligor limit for them to access and chop as usual.
Whiles waiting on the Office of the Special Prosecutor, the Auditor General and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy to comprehensively probe the current ailing situation at BOST to institutionally reform and correct the rot going at BOST in order to bring it to profitability, we will to encourage the President of the Republic to pay a particular attention to the way BOST is being run to the ground currently.
We are by this further encouraging also Authorities whose mandate it is to protect the public purse to strenuously audit BOST and its operations rather than adding on more debt to the ailing state owned BOST.
We believe the Finance Ministry will not be in a hurry to grant any waiver to this deal of over GHS 550 million that could potentially further harm the financial sector bearing in mind the collapse of a number of banks in recent times.
…Signed…
Duncan Amoah
Executive Secretary
Source: PROSPER AGBENYEGA