Finance minister-designate, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta has bemoaned the failure of the Office of the Special Prosecutor to offer him a fair hearing in the preparation of its report condemning the controversial Agyapa Royalties deal.

The deal which proposed to sell almost 76 percent of Ghana’s future receipts from gold royalties to a special purpose vehicle, based in the tax haven of Jersey was flagged by the office of the Special Prosecutor as being fraught with several avenues for corruption.

Mr. Ofori-Atta in his response to a question from the Appointments Committee of Parliament on the matter said that the Finance Ministry in the first term of the NPP administration did not breach any rules in the preparation of the Agyapa Gold Royalties agreement , indicating that the office of the Special Prosecutor was not fair to him.

“A fundamental flaw in the approach the OSP took with regard to whether he gave us a chance to respond or not and I think that should be of keen interest to this house as just a rule of law,” Mr. Ofori-Atta told Parliament’s Appointment Committee.

The Finance Minister nominee further acknowledged that Parliament should not have been accommodative to the report from the OSP which “Your Citizens were not able to give their opinions should not be encouraged”.

Mr. Ofori-Attah also indicated that the Agyapa Royalties Bill will be re-laid in Parliament to enable the country to maximize revenue from its Gold Reserve.