Dr. Ernest Addison – Governor of BoG
Bank of Ghana (BoG) in collaboration with the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) are on the heels of some 17 resolved financial institutions over untraceable investments amounting to GHS116.7m .
According to the central bank, it has identified placements that were made by these Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) and other investment companies but all attempts to trace the whereabouts of these investment companies have been unsuccessful.
In a statement, the BoG said its in the process of transmitting a formal request through BoG to EOCO to trace these non-operational institutions and assist with recovery of the funds.
According to BoG, the Resolved Companies with Claims as at Receivership are Accent Financial Services, Capital & More Microfinance 20,697,112.76, both owned by embattled defunct Capital Bank boss, William Ato Essien, Accent Financial Services Nordea Capital 18,447,008.25, CDH Savings and Loans Capital Africa Group 14,104,365.35, Express Savings and Loans Limited Samba Transfer Services 11,451,440.42, Alltime Finance Ltd, Beige Group Limited 10,360,128.09, First African Savings and Loans, Beige Group Limited 8,606,250.00, Midland Savings and Loans Limited, Griffin Financial Services 7,574,855.63.
The remaining are Midland Savings and Loans Limited Konodum Africa Mining Ltd 6,362,831.18, Midland Savings and Loans Limited Ekumfi Quarries Ltd 5,089,399.98, Commerz Savings and Loans Equity Capital 3,839,239.97, Commerz Savings and Loans Nordea Foundation 3,054,055.07, Firstrust Savings and Loans Limited Susu Plus Services 1,943,495.89, Accent Financial services Equity Capital Limited 1,612,089.66, First African Savings and Loans Equity Capital Limited 1,305,000.00, Dream Finance Limited EL FX 1,143,406.51, Midland Savings and Loans Limited Geojita 543,814.09 and Express Savings and Loans Limited Senaf Investments 533,132.37
Meanwhile, BoG said the Receiver in collaboration with EOCO has so far identified 100 landed properties for further investigations to ascertain their ownership status.
This comprises 68 landed properties relating to five Microfinance companies, and 32 relating to nine Savings and Loans companies.
EOCO is taking steps to secure freezing orders while they conduct their investigations.
“The purpose of obtaining freezing orders is for EOCO and the Receiver to; Ascertain the ownership status of the properties, ascertain whether the properties were acquired with resources of the defunct institutions, obtain all relevant documents for the said properties, conduct searches at the Lands Commission to aid potential transfer of the assets to the Receiver and to prevent owners from dissipating the assets before the Receiver starts the realisation process,” the statement said.
By Vincent Kubi