Engineers & Planners (E&P) has dismissed suggestions that its acquisition of Azumah Resources Ghana Ltd and Upwest Resources Ghana Ltd is tied to political connections between its Chief Executive, Ibrahim Mahama, and his brother, President John Dramani Mahama.

The company maintains that its operations date back to 1997, with its growth into one of Africa’s largest mining contractors achieved independently of political influence.

E&P’s legal representative, Bobby Banson, in a Citi Business News interview stressed that the transaction involving the Black Volta and Sankofa gold concessions began in 2022, prior to John Mahama’s return to power, and therefore cannot be linked to politics.

“It is very laughable for anybody to suggest that. E & P was established in 1997. E & P is the largest mining contractor in Africa. All the mining contracts that E & P procured were all procured when his brother was not president. You cannot equate the business success of Engineers and Planners to the brother of the beneficial owner of Engineers and Planners. More importantly in respect of this transaction, it was started in 2022 when his brother was not president so you cannot link this transaction to the political success of John Dramani Mahama,” he remarked.

E&P has also insisted it has completed the takeover of the concessions, a claim Azumah Resources has rejected.

Azumah had warned that any unauthorised transfer would amount to expropriation of private property that could expose Ghana to international arbitration and financial claims exceeding US$1 billion, while signaling its intent to escalate the matter to the International Court of Arbitration.