Bank of Ghana (BoG) in collaboration with the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) are chasing 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 investments companies have been unsuccessful.
In a statement, the BoG noted that 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 the Central Bank, 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, 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, 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.
Landed Properties Identified
Meanwhile, BoG said the Receiver in collaboration with EOCO has so far identified 100 landed properties for further investigations to ascertain their ownership status.
These 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.”
BoG
It can be recalled that the Bank of Ghana revoked licenses of nine (9) banks and other financial institutions in efforts to clean up the banking sector and restore stability and resilience of the financial system. These banks were Heritage Bank, Limited, Premium Bank Limited, uniBank, Sovereign bank, BEIGE bank, Royal bank, Construction bank, UT bank and Capital bank.
Ghana’s banking sector cleanup occurred between August 2017 and January 2020 when the country allowed indigenous banks to take over some non-performing banks in the country. This was to strengthen Ghana’s banking sector.
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