Story: Atta Kwaku Boadi
A leading member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, Wofa Kwabena Sarpong has described as ‘unfair’ the decision by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to withdraw the licence of GN Bank/Savings.
“How can government punish Nduom double? First, you have reclassified his bank, universal bank, and to me , that was enough punishment, why then did the government revoke the licence of his savings and loans company”, he angrily asked?
It will be recalled that BoG on August 16, 2019 revoked the licences of twenty-three (23) savings and loans companies and finance house companies.
This included GN Savings, a company BoG had issued a licence to only in January 2019 following the reclassification of GN Bank.
His comments follow Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom’s Facebook broadcast on Friday, October 4, 2024 as part of the phase three of the #BringBackGNBank nationwide campaign.
Mincing no words, the outspoken NPP’s kingpin noted that if all the things Dr Nduom had said were true, then his government did not treat him (Dr Nduom) well.
To this end, he called on president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to, as a matter of urgency restore the licence of GN Bank/Savings.
He made these remarks while commenting on the Bring Back GN Bank campaign on Saturday, October 5, 2024 on Amansan Television (ATV) political programme, ‘Kanawu’.
“Why must you use political power to fight your business opponents? It’s only in Ghana that you can hear this but we cannot continue to destroy our own if we want to see a booming economy”, he said.
Dr Nduom, who is the chairman of Groupe Nduom, a multinational conglomerate during his Facebook address last week Friday showed more evidence, more facts and more reasons for the reinstatement of GN Bank.
The astute entrepreneur noted that the money laundering allegation which was used by the BoG to revoke the licence of GN Bank was groundless.
According to him , none of his companies was involved in any illegal transfer of money , saying it was somebody’s intention to tarnish the image of his companies and family.
Explaining further, he mentioned one ex-employee of GN Bank, Michael Kofi Fosu who he said, propagated the money laundering allegation about the bank “because he was dismissed from the bank after he was found involved in some financial irregularities”.
“This is a man (referring to Michael Kofi Fosu) I helped to get a job in my company, and all that I could get from him was to lie against me and my company because he claimed some top managers of the bank at that time stepped on his toes”, Dr Nduom stated.
Dr Nduom in a video message showed a letter purported to have been written by the so-called whistleblower , Michael Kofi Fosu, to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison alleging that, GN Bank had illegally transferred customers’ funds to a foreign firm without documentation.
That, Dr Nduom said, was the reason BoG withdrew the licence of GN Bank .
He recounted a telephone call he received from Dr Addison somewhere in 2018 when he was on his way to Wa requesting to conduct an investigation on the bank after Michael Kofi Fosu had sent the letter to him.
But Dr Nduom denied the central bank’s claim that he transferred $62 million of customers’ funds to a company in the US without documentation. Someone he said went and indiscriminately listed transferred made over a period of time for various and different purposes and companies and added the amounts to support their purpose.
He said the monies were used to pay for items purchased from the firm – International Business Solutions (IBS) – and all the necessary documentation were adequately provided.
Dr Nduom explained further, “if FreshPak imports raw materials, we send FreshPak money to pay. If any of our companies, ask for something – say Coconut Grove needs some new towels, bedsheets – when they are brought to Ghana by IBS then Coconut Grove which would have money with GN Bank or GN Savings will transfer money to get those items paid for.
“And before GN bank came, we were transferring monies through banks such as Ecobank, Barclays and UMB to pay for goods and services received from the same IBS,” he said.
He therefore wondered how the transfer of funds for the payment of goods could be classified as illegal.
He said the BoG has all the documents for every pesewa transferred out of Ghana and there was absolutely nothing wrong with engaging in international business.
One thought on “GN Bank’s licence withdrawal: Gov’t was not fair to Nduom-”
What will Wofa Kwabena Sarpong do to correct this injustice against Groupe Nduom?