You could be jailed for 18 months or have your property seized for illegal forex trading - BoG

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has disclosed that persons operating in the black market are engaging in illegality.

Head of the Foreign Exchange Bureau Examination Office, Adwoa Konadu Tortor, said a person who does that could face an 18-month jail term or be fined by a competent court of jurisdiction or both.

She told Kwabena Agaypong on Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm’s Frontline that the Police are mandated to arrest such people, arraign them in court, and prosecute them.

“It is illegal to conduct business in the forex market without a license.” Anyone who operates in the market without a license is breaking the law, and the police have the authority to arrest them. When they are arrested, they must be brought before a competent court of jurisdiction, prosecuted, and if found guilty, they face a fine of 700 penalty units, 18 months in prison, or both.”

He said the court could also seize ann property and money from the illegal trade from the offenders.

She appealed to the media, the general public and other stakeholders to support the BoG in clamping down on the illegal operations of unlicensed forex traders.

She told those breaking the law, “Stop it now!” Apply for a license if you want to trade currencies. “Do not hide in a small corner and operate illegally.”

Meanwhile, the police have arrested 76 people in Accra for allegedly engaging in the illegal trading of foreign currencies (forex), particularly US dollars.

The suspects were apprehended last Tuesday by a special team from the Ghana Police Service (GPS) and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for illegally selling and buying the CFA Franc, euro, and British pound, among other currencies, in Accra’s Central Business District (CBD).

They were apprehended in Rawlings Park, Tudu, Cowlane, the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Kinbu, Timber Market, and Lava and have since been placed in police custody to assist with the investigation leading to their prosecution.