Have faith in legal process - Governor urges shareholders of defunct Banks

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison, has advised shareholders of the nine banks whose licences were revoked to have faith in the legal process and not resort to Parliament to seek redress.

He explained that running to Parliament was not one of the redress processes laid down under law for those who felt aggrieved by a licence revocation exercise by the central bank.

“There are already a number of actions filed in court and at arbitration by the same persons who run to Parliament for cover, and the BoG’s simple response to Parliament is respectfully to allow the pending legal processes to run their course,” Dr Addison said at the opening of the Chamber CEO Business Forum in Accra on June 23.

On the theme: “Redefining Business Success: The Path for Business Value, Resilience and Sustainability,” the two-day forum, organised by the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) is to create a platform for captains of industry, members of the business community and policy makers to understand how regulatory policies as well as firm-level decisions impact business resilience and competitiveness.

The discussions would enable the participants to achieve a new form of business success.

Formal inquiry

Dr Addison stated that some time in September 2018, the 7th Parliament undertook a formal inquiry into the financial sector clean-up, the factors that led to it and the manner in which it was carried out.

“Among other things, the Finance Committee of Parliament invited all the key stakeholders’ such as the Ministry of Finance, the Governor of the BoG, the shareholders of the defunct institutions, the receivers, among others, to appear before it and to answer specific questions aimed at assisting the committee to understand the events surrounding the clean-up exercise.

“The BoG cooperated fully with the committee and provided all the necessary information to assist its members reach their own conclusions.

“We had hoped that the committee would make its report available to the House and to the public after its deliberations, but we heard nothing more on that,” the Governor said.

Clean-up exercise

The Governor observed that the central bank understood Parliament’s continued interest in the clean-up exercise, especially given the public funds that were used to settle depositors’ claims in order to promote the stability of the financial system.

While the legal processes in court and at arbitration run their course, Dr Addison said, the BoG would respectfully ask that Parliament, and indeed all Ghanaians, took a serious view of the GH¢19 billion the government provided out of taxpayers’ money to settle claims of depositors.

That, he said, followed the mismanagement and siphoning out of several billions of Ghana cedis from the defunct institutions by their shareholders.

“We all need to lend our support to the Receivers to help retrieve these amounts of money and relocate them to productive uses to build our economy forward, particularly in the midst of the pandemic,” he added.

Industrialisation

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyerematen, in a speech read on his behalf, indicated that there was the need for players in the private sector to collaborate with their respective regulatory bodies to help influence government policies.

He said the government was implementing an industrialisation programme to make Ghana a self-sufficient country capable of producing its own products.

According to him, the programme and its footprints were critical in the country’s COVID-19 response when the global supply chain was disrupted.

“We saw the contribution of the garments sector, as some 112 companies produced face-masks across the country and ensured that educational institutions and medical facilities were supplied with personal protection,” Mr Kyerematen said.

Business environment

The President of GNCCI, Mr Clement Osei-Amoako, stated that the chamber acknowledged the efforts the government was making to improve the business environment through its targeted policies and programmes.

“Nonetheless, we are mindful of a number of issues affecting the business community.

“The recent 100 basis points reduction in the policy rate to 13.5 per cent for the next three months, after the rate had been maintained at 14.5 per cent for six consecutive times since March 2020, is welcome news for the business community as we anticipate a reduction in commercial lending rates,” he added.