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The Minister of Transport, Mr Mike Hammah, inaugurated a seven-member committee to ascertain the extent and scope of corporate malfeasance at the PSC Tema Shipyard and Drydock Company in Accra yesterday. He said since the government divested 60 per cent of its shares in the company in 1997, the company had attracted a lot of public attention, more often in the bad light. The minister explained that with a huge potential to maintain and improve on its viability, PSC Tema Shipyard had come under severe criticism, particularly from the media and workers who had accused the management of malfeasance and impropriety. He said recent revelations from an internal audit report in the media and workers who had accused the management of malfeasance and impropriety. He said recent revelations from an internal audit report in the media left much to be desired and indicated that over the last two years, the Internal Audit Department had operated under a lot of constraints and frustrations and that in spite of persistent complaints about weak internal audit controls, management did not do anything about them. He said another major concern of the government and Ghanaian taxpayers was the manner in which the original majority shareholders (Malaysians) transferred the shares to another company, after the divestiture, without recourse to the original divestiture agreement in 1998. Mr Hammah said it was to bring about sanity in the operations of PSC Tema Shipyard and other related issues that the ministry had found it necessary and imperative to set up the investigative committee. He spelt out the terms of reference of the committee to include assess in the commercial performance of the company since its inception in 1998, as well as its financial viability. The minister said the committee, chaired by a legal practitioner, Mr Chris Ackummey, would also investigate the reasons underlying the incessant labour unrest and how it had affected operational performances. He said the committee would establish whether there was any corporate malfeasance and it so, how it had negatively affected the company. Mr Hammah stressed that the committee was not set up for any witch hunting purposes but to ascertain the truth or otherwise of the numerous allegations and allow for appropriate steps to be taken to safeguard the taxpayer�s money and steer the company to contribute its expected quota towards the overall development of the country. Other members of the committee are Mrs Ama Bamful of Attorney-General�s Department, Mr George Winful of the Auditor-General�s Department, Mr A.A Akanteyam of the Ghana Maritime Authority, Mr Kwadwo Owusu-Ansah of the Ministry of Transport, Mr Seth Kugbenu, a marine of Transport, Mr Seth Kugblenu, a marine engineer, and Lt Commander Kpesse (redt)