GAT planning to sell-off shares of purchased banks to private individuals, Ayariga
Respond in five days or face legal action, Lawmaker to central bank
Member of Parliament for Bawku, Mahama Ayariga, has petitioned the Bank of Ghana Governor, Dr Ernest Addison, to investigate alleged 'negative activities' of Board Chairman, Albert Essien and Managing Director of Ghana Amalgamated Trust (GAT) Eric Nana Otoo.
The lawmaker has thus called on the central bank governor to issue a cease and desist letter to the Trust to enable a fair investigation.
According to him, GAT since the completion of a transaction, in 2019, meant to assist banks with capital to remain solvent and meet their minimum capital requirement, has engaged in various 'negative acts'.
A copy of Mahama Ayariga’s petition available to GhanaWeb points the said alleged acts collectively seem to be geared towards weakening the corporate governance capacity of some of the banks hence making them vulnerable within the financial sector.
“More worrying is the steps being taken currently by the GAT to pass benefits gained when Government first invested in these banks at depressed values resulting from perceived arm twisting of the banks through the Ministry of Finance,” portions of the petition read.
"There is the question of the character of those posing as private individuals to whom GAT is planning sell off its shares in these banks at the original discounted pricing government bought these banks. It is crucial to investigate and ascertain if GAT is currently using companies that are connected to the agents of the Minister of Finance to determine the value at which it should sell its shares,” it continued.
The Bawku Central in the petition further alleges, “GAT has submitted a prospectus to Securities and Exchange Commission for approval to enable it sell-off its shares in these banks to some private individuals whose identity calls for some investigation”
In the concluding part of the petition, Mahama Ayariga said the Minority caucus in Parliament may resort to taking legal action against the Bank of Ghana, Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the Ghana Amalgamated Trust over the alleged questionable transactions.
“We await your response and action within five days from receipt of this letter,” a portion of the concluding part of the petition read.
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.
Read Mahama Ayariga's petition below:
Mahama Ayariga, MP for Bawku Central