Eric Nana Nipah
ERIC NANA Nipah, Receiver of the 347 defunct microfinance companies, 23 savings and loans and finance houses, has disclosed he is unable to carry out a detailed asset tracing exercise of some 35 of the resolved companies.
According to him, this has rendered him unable to validate and settle claims of depositors under the Depositor Payment Scheme.
In a statement issued recently in Accra, Mr. Nipah highlighted that “currently there are 35 resolved companies with depositor claims worth approximately GH¢252 million which have no books or records available to us, to enable us to validate and settle these claims under the Depositor Payment Scheme.”
The companies are ABIS Plus Microfinance Limited, African Trust Microfinance Limited, AG Microfinance Limited, Bedel, Bengay Microfinance Limited, Big Dreams Microfinance Limited, Boin Microfinance Company Limited, Common Capital Microfinance Limited and Crown Capital Microfinance Limited.
Others are D-Vanc Microfinance Limited, Dwetire Microfinance Limited, Elite Microfinance Limited, Era Microfinance Services Limited, Gmet Microfinance Limited, Godigo Microfinance Limited, Golden Trust Microfinance Co. Limited, Halal Microfinance Limited, High Prestige Microfinance Services Limited, High Prestige Microfinance Limited, Jada Microfinance Limited, Jopat Microfinance Company Limited, Joy Help Microfinance Limited, Kapital Express Microfinance Company Limited, Kingdom Trust Microfinance Limited and Liberty Daily.
The rest include Man Capital Microfinance Company, Noble Dream Microfinance Limited, Restore Microfinance Company Limited, Royal Future Microfinance Limited, Savannah Microfinance Limited, Star Plus Microfinance Limited, Starling Microfinance Services Limited, Unique-Mas Microfinance Company Limited and Great Africa Micro Credit Company.
“We are working with the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) to locate and retrieve these companies’ records in order to be able to validate and settle depositor claims made on these companies,” the Receiver indicated.
He added that out of a total of 370 entities in resolution, 157 were non-operational with some ceased operations long before BoG revoked their licenses.
“In the conduct of the resolution of these companies, a major challenge the Receiver has faced with some of the non-operational companies has been in the area of securing the books and records of these companies both manual and electronic. At the commencement of the resolution process, there were 157 non-operational companies whose books and records we were not able to locate and secure.
“Based on the collaborative arrangement we have with the EOCO, which includes assets tracing and investigations, over time, we have been able to retrieve books and records from 131 resolved entities which were not operational at the commencement of the resolution of these companies, thereby making it possible for us to be able to validate creditor claims on these institutions,” he added.
BY Samuel Boadi