GAT CEO debunks share trade-off allegations
Respond in five days or face legal action, MP to central bank
The Ghana Amalgamated Trust has refuted claims that it is illegally engaging in a trade-off of state shares from recapitalized banks to third parties.
Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga in a petition to the Bank of Ghana called for an investigation into the alleged ‘trade-off’ activity on the part of Board Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GAT, Albert Essien and Eric Otoo respectively.
But reacting to the claims in an interview on Accra-based JoyFM, Chief Executive Officer of the GAT, Eric Otoo described the allegations as one without factual evidence adding that the Trust is not engaging in an alleged trade-off of state shares to questionable individuals.
“So, to clarify the issue, I’ve seen a letter that’s been passing around on social media by the MP [Mahama Ayariga], as you indicated. And just to clarify, in the letter, the MP is indicating that GAT is selling shares of the banks that GAT invested in, as part of the government’s policy programme, and it’s actually not the case,” the GAT CEO said on Thursday December 23.
“So, to present the real fact of the matter, GAT is not selling off at this point, not selling off shares in these banks that GAT invested in”, Eric Otoo stated.
Despite describing the claims as false, the GAT CEO admitted that a prospectus has however been submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise funds for the Trust.
“The prospectus was for GAT to raise funds for GAT itself and the prospectus does not propose to sell off shares in the GAT banks which the Trust has invested in,” he explained.
He continued, “So, what we’ve done is, typically as you’ll see in capital markets, we’ve engaged potential investors on a preliminary basis, while we are waiting for approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Once that approval comes, we will make our prospectus public and we will open up for any investor at all, both institutional or retail investors who’re interested in GAT to do so. We haven’t preselected anyone.”
Meanwhile, Mahama Ayariga in the concluding part of his petition has since issued the Bank of Ghana with a five-day ultimatum to halt the alleged sale or face legal action and a parliamentary probe.
The Ghana Amalgamated Trust (GAT) was established by an Act of Parliament to help financially resource some local banks to enable them to meet the minimum capital requirement of commercial banks during the onset of the banking sector clean-up.
The Ghana Amalgamated Trust