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Advocacy group, Good Governance Advocacy Group Ghana (GGAGG) has accused the Board of Directors of the Ghana Commercial Bank Limited of graft, abuse of office and conflict of interest.
According to the group, its investigation has revealed “several cases ranging from corruption, abuse of office, capricious use of discretion, conflict of interest, etc”.
At a press conference held on Tuesday, 9 th March 2021, the Executive Director of GGAGG Listowel Nana Kissi-Poku, alleged that “we uncovered Bad Loans, Non-Performing Loans and Bad Debts among other things during our contrary to the recommendations of the Risk Control Department of the bank, which is supposed to be an internal control mechanism”.
The group cited a number of cases where it believes amount to an abuse of office, bad loans, conflict of interest and corruption.
On the issue of bad loans, the group alleged that one Yaw Addo was granted a loan of over Two Hundred and Ninety Million Ghana Cedis (GHS 290,000,000.00) which amount the group says was about 53% of the bank’s stated capital.
This GGAGG argues puts the bank at a high risk in the event that the customer defaults in repaying his loan.
“The customer, as anticipated, defaulted in payment and as we write to you, the loan has gone bad. In fact, the loan went bad the very day it was granted and there has not been any repayment on this loan by the customer.
“What is so shocking and alarming is that despite all the failures and default by the customer, Yaw Addo, the bank has not activated the process to take the security attached to this loan. This is because the board chaired by name Jude Arthur is shielding Yaw Addo, from all the bank’s debt recovery processes”, the group revealed.
Kumasi City Mall, Erduk Company Limited among others are customers that have been cited by GGAGG to have benefitted from the “maladministration” of the Jude Arthur led Board of GCB.
On the issue of conflict of interest, GGAGG accused one Mr. Nik Amarteifio who is a Non-Executive Director (Board Member) of the bank, for using his influence and position in the bank to secure a loan facility for Starwin Products Limited and Ayrton Drugs Limited.“This gesture, we find an affront to Article 284 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana which unequivocally states that “A public officer shall not put himself/herself in a position where his personal interest conflicts or is likely […]