Mr. Bernard Otabil, The Director of Communications at the Bank of Ghana has provided evidence as to why he has rejected the statement of Dr. Papa Kwasi Nduom, the Chairman of Group Nduom Bank that the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta’s influence has been a key reason why Group Ndoun Bank is out of business.
The reason for the closure of the bank as stated by Mr. Otabil reveals that the GN Savings and Loans went against the financial regulations including the Foreign Exchange Act of 2006 (Acts 723)
“At the end of the day, it is not in the interest of the central bank or we don’t go out there and say this institution must actually be closed down at all cost. It depends on how the institution is run, it depends on what the institution itself has stated that it wants to do and on respecting the prudential norms. In fact, let me make it clear that the GN Bank and GN Savings and Loans were actually disrespectful to the central bank.
For instance, if you go through the books you will see that there was a transfer of dollars, and pounds and Euros to International Business Solutions which is an institution affiliated to the group network based outside which was in direct breach of the Foreign Exchange Act of 2006 (Act 723). These provisions are there. Our statement of August 16 2019, we stand by that statement and in that statement, we have given all the reasons behind the revocation of the license of GN Savings and loans,” he told TV3’s Paa Kwasi Asare.
When the BoG withdrew the licenses of the 23 Savings and Loans Companies and other financial institutions including that of GN Bank in 2019, the latter sent the issue to court for legal justice for the withdrawal. Contrary to that, the a High Court in Accra headed by Justice Gifty Addo Adjei brought to light the legality of BoG’s decision while stressing on their right to withdraw licenses due to governance deficiencies that made GN Bank unable to meet certain financial obligations.
Admist all this, Dr. Nduom insisted that it was Ken Ofori-Atta requested the Cabinet to help the collapse of GN Bank to prevent any political interference.
“I have with me here a memorandum submitted by the Minister of Finance at that time, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, asking Cabinet to agree for GN Bank to be collapsed, for its license to be taken. This memorandum didn’t consider that this bank was the biggest bank with the widest distribution in Ghana.
“It didn’t recognize that we were providing banking services that increased financial inclusion in Ghana. It didn’t recognize that we were supporting financial development and economic development in Ghana.
“It just said, these people are causing us problems and therefore it might affect our political chances, so let’s shut it down,” Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom claimed in a viral video he shared on X formerly Twitter.
He admitted that, despite the memorandum being submitted to the cabinet, the cabinet did not grant Ken Ofori-Atta’s plea to rescind the bank’s operational license. In the meantime, Dr. Nduom has initiated an appeal against the ruling issued by Justice Gifty Addo.
