RESIGNATION OF MR. ASANTE BERKO, TEMA OIL REFINERY (TOR) MANAGING DIRECTOR

I am not particularly enthused at all about the resignation of TOR MD, Mr. Asante Berko based on a past charge levelled against him in the USA by SEC involving an alleged bribery of Ghanaian government officials. He served two months at Tema Oil Refinery (TOR). The question is if he was charged was he taking to court and found guilty and what happened to all the MPs that had allegedly received the bribe from the Turkish Energy Company for which he facilitated the payments? Was he ever convicted by a court of law in the USA or Ghana? If all these actions were not taken why should he relinquish his role because of the past? You can see how the corridors of power are once again intertwined with corruption in Ghana. Why should he relinquish his role as MD if all the parties involved in the bribery allegation are still holding their posts?

If it cannot be proven that he was involved in any criminal activities then I don't think his resignation should have been accepted. Certainly a person has more to offer aside his or her past. What about all his 22 years experience in executive position levels and all the good international companies he has worked with? Does Ghana not need such rich experience in terms of quality human resource to work for the country? What about his educational qualifications, does it not matter? Should a person reach this height in corporate and educational ladder just for some 'mafia' insiders to connive and conspire, look into his past and bring him down? This is too typical of most government institutions in Ghana because like I always say some people want to cover things up there so they use every means necessary to bring you down. I always maintain that no man or woman is a gentleman or lady if you dig deeper. We all have skeleton in our closets so let's watch how we deploy people's past against them if fraud or crime cannot be proven against them. I will continue to advocate for what is right in this country and Africa for that matter.

The background story is as follows :

U.S. SEC charges former banker for bribes to Ghana officials

(Reuters) - The U.S. securities regulator on Monday charged a former banker at a subsidiary of a U.S. bank for arranging at least $2.5 million in bribes to be paid to Ghana government officials to gain approval for a client’s power plant project.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said here that Asante Berko arranged the bribes for a Turkish energy company to funnel the money to a Ghana-based intermediary, which then paid the local officials.
The Wall Street Journal reported the news earlier in the day and said that Berko was a former banker at Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs, which was not named in the SEC lawsuit, terminated its involvement with the project after the energy company refused to explain the intermediary firm's role, the report had said here
“Goldman Sachs fully cooperated with the SEC’s investigation and as stated by the SEC in its press release, the firm’s compliance personnel took appropriate steps to prevent the firm from participating in the transaction,” the WSJ report added citing Nicole Sharp, a spokeswoman for Goldman.
Berko helped the Ghana-based intermediary pay more than $200,000 in bribes to various other government officials, and personally paid more than $60,000 to members of the Ghanaian parliament and other government officials, the SEC statement said, adding that Berko took deliberate measures to prevent his employer from detecting the bribery scheme.