By Nadia Ntiamoah
Former Goldman Sachs banker and former Managing Director of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Asante Berko, has gone on trial in the United States over allegations that he orchestrated a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving senior Ghanaian government officials to secure approval for a power plant project.
Asante Berko, 52, appeared before a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, where US prosecutors alleged that he and his associates paid more than US$1 million in bribes to high-ranking Ghanaian officials more than a decade ago to facilitate the development and financing of a lucrative power generation project.
Thee payment allegedly took place during the dumsor era in the John Mahama first term in office. The said officials who took the money in order to facilitate the approval of the power project had not been named.
The trial marks the latest development in a case brought under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a law that prohibits individuals and companies from bribing foreign public officials to obtain or retain business.
Delivering her opening statement before the jury, federal prosecutor Katherine Raut alleged that Berko concealed the bribery scheme from Goldman Sachs’ internal compliance department while working as part of the investment bank’s team responsible for arranging financing for the power project.
According to prosecutors, the alleged payments were made to secure the necessary government approvals for a Turkish energy company in which Goldman Sachs held a 16 per cent stake.
The US government further alleges that Berko used American financial institutions to launder money connected to the alleged bribe payments, thereby violating federal anti-corruption and money laundering laws.
During the trial, prosecutors told jurors that numerous warning signs eventually emerged within Goldman Sachs, prompting the investment bank to withdraw from the project before it was completed.
The prosecution indicated that it intends to present bank records, emails and other documentary evidence over the course of the trial to demonstrate how the alleged scheme was organised and executed.
Among the evidence cited by prosecutors are emails allegedly sent by Berko instructing associates to “keep our conversations to private email.”
In another email presented by the prosecution, an associate allegedly informed Berko that a Ghanaian official was “waiting for the ‘holy rain’ and would appreciate it sooner rather than later,” which US prosecutors contend was coded language referring to illicit payments.
The prosecution argues that these communications, together with financial records and other documentary evidence, support allegations that bribes were offered to influence public officials involved in approving the project.
However, Asante Berko has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
His defence lawyer, Robert Boone, rejected the prosecution’s allegations, telling jurors that the government’s case lacks direct evidence linking his client to any bribery scheme.
Boone argued that prosecutors would be unable to produce witnesses who actually observed Berko paying or authorising bribes.
Comparing the government’s case to the disgraced pop duo Milli Vanilli, who became infamous for lip-syncing rather than performing their own songs, Boone suggested that the prosecution’s allegations would ultimately prove hollow.
“Where are the witnesses to Mr Berko’s bribery?” Boone asked the jury. “Is anyone going to testify to having seen a bribe or being paid a bribe? The answer is no.”
Asante Berko is facing charges including conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, substantive violations of the FCPA and money laundering.
If convicted on the most serious count, he could face a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
The case stems from investigations by US authorities into alleged international corruption involving business transactions linked to the energy sector.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has frequently been used by US prosecutors to pursue companies and individuals accused of bribing foreign public officials in exchange for business advantages, even when the alleged conduct occurred outside the United States, provided the transactions passed through the US financial system or involved American entities.
Goldman Sachs has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case. According to US prosecutors, the investment bank cooperated with government investigators during the investigation into Berko’s conduct.
The trial, expected to last about two weeks, will determine whether prosecutors can prove beyond reasonable doubt that Berko participated in the alleged bribery and money laundering scheme or whether the defence succeeds in establishing that the government’s evidence falls short of the criminal standard required for conviction.
