Verity News through an in-depth investigation has reliably uncovered that the Minister of State for President Affairs, Mr. Sylvester Grisby, fronted or bided for an overnight Ghanaian “ Construction Company”, KRANOC Engineering.
Our investigation established that KRANOC is not a part of the 31 vetted, reclassified, and legally registered road and railway construction companies in Ghana contrary to what Minister Grigsby revealed in his letter to Justice Minister Oswald Tweah that KRANOC is a “foreign company”.
Grigsby’s Letter To The Minister of Justice
The investigation of Verity News reveals that the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Mr. Sylvester Grigsby, wrote the Minister of Justice, Cllr. Oswald Tweh, on June 17, 2024, and asked him to accord the officials of KRANOC Engineering Company all necessary support upon their arrival to Liberia on June 18, 2024.
“KRANOC Engineering Company, a foreign company registered in Liberia has expressed interest to partner with the government to undertake projects involving roads, infrastructure, buildings, railway lines, water systems, and rural electrification. Officials of the company will be arriving in Monrovia on June 18, 2024, to further discuss their proposal in detail. Accordingly, we ask that you kindly accord them all necessary support to meet up with your technical team for the discussion of said proposal,” Mr. Sylvester Grigsby, Minister of State for Presidential Affairs in his letter (MOS-RL/SMG-COS/450/2024) dated June 17, 2024.
With business registration documents, including AOI, notary certificate, certification of business registration, and flag receipts in our possession, Verity News can confirm that this so-called Ghanaian company just registered on May 6, 2024, with business registration number 053423639 and tax identification number 501793847.
KRANOG is NOT a Road and Railway Company in Ghana
Even though KRANOC’s website reveals that it is “an engineering company set up to provide mining support services, Minister Grigsby in his letter fronted for said company to possibly be awarded contracts or projects involving roads, infrastructure, buildings, railway lines, water systems, and rural electrification because there have said capacity or expertise as insinuated by Minister Grigsby.
“KRANOC Engineering, a subsidiary of the Kranoc Group, is an engineering company set up to provide Mining Support Services, personnel, and other support services for mining, electrical, structural, architectural, aerospace, and biomedical industries,” The Company’s website stated https://kranocengineering.com/.
The investigation of Verity News reveals that KRANOC Engineering is neither a road-railway construction company nor an engineering company in Ghana. It was discovered that KRANOG Engineering is not on the list of reclassified, vetted, and legally registered road and railway companies as published by the Ministry of Roads and Highways in Ghana https://mrh.gov.gh/31-road-construction-companies-reclassified/.
The Ministry listed 31 road and highway companies in different classes, including First Sky Limited, Midwest Contract Works Limited, Poly Changda Overseas Engineering Company Limited, Kings Engineering and Construction, Resources Access Limited, China Jiangxi Engineering, Justmoh Construction, among others.
The investigation of Verity also reveals that KRANOC is not part of highway, street, and bridge companies in Liberia https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-information.highway_street_and_bridge_construction.gh.html. Additionally, KRANOG is not recognized as a railway company by the Ministry of Railways Development of Ghana and it does not exist as an engineering company in Ghana as per the 2024 database of the Ghana Institute of Engineering https://ghie.org.gh/firms-in-goodstanding/ and the Ghana Business Directory of Civil Engineering Companies: https://businessghana.com/site/directory/civil-engineering/engineering.
Even though the Liberian Business Certificate of KRANOC Engineering officially describes its core business operations as “Construction of Roads and Railways”, Minister Grigsby bided for KRANOC to undertake projects involving very technical areas such as roads, infrastructure, buildings, railway lines, water systems, and rural electrification contrary to what KRANOC’s business certificate reflects.
The Business Certificate and Article of Incorporation of KRANOC
The investigation reveals that this supposedly “foreign company” as introduced by Minister Sylvester Grigsby to the Minister of Justice was officially incorporated and registered under the laws of Liberia as “KRANOC ENGINEERING AND NK PHARMA LIBERIA INCORPORATED” on May 7, 2024, with business registration number 053423639 and tax identification number 501793847. A month and ten days after KRANOC registered in Liberia, Minister Grigsby wrote Justice Minister Tweh to do the bidding on their behalf. Further evidence in our possession shows that the Minister of State
According to the Article of Incorporation, the incorporators and shareholders are Nana Koranteng (a Ghanaian-based Chairman of the Board with an 85% share), Sando D. Johnson (a Liberian Secretary with an 8% share), Divine Anku-Tsee (a Ghanaian Director with 4% share), and John Charles Dake (a Ghanaian with 3% share).
The Law and how Minister Grigsby violated it
Section 2.1 of Subchapter “A” of the 1972 Executive Law defines the duties of the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs. It states, “The Minister of State for Presidential Affairs shall perform the following duties: Follow through and coordinate all decisions of the Chief Executive; Organize, as the President shall direct, Cabinet Meetings and be responsible for the proper maintenance of all records of such meetings; Exercise such operational authority, intrinsic to his office, as the President may from time to time direct.”
The investigation of Verity News has established that no law gives Mr. Grigsby the authority as Minister of State for Presidential Affairs to request the Minister of Justice to “accord” a supposedly “foreign company” needed support, favor, or assistance. The 2010 Investment Act, which establishes the National Investment Commission (NIC), mandates the agency to attract, support, guide, and direct foreign business and investment companies coming to Liberia.
