National Democratic Congress [NDC] Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam George, has taken a swipe the Bank of Ghana over the collapse of some seven local banks.
According to him, the Bank of Ghana is equally guilty as officials of the defunct bank who to him had poor corporate governance structures.
“I hold the view that the Bank of Ghana is culpable in this case. In fact, the Bank of Ghana is guilty of the same offenses that Capital bank, UT bank and all the other five banks have committed,” he said on Citi TV’s Breakfast Daily show on Wednesday.
Seven banks have within the past twelve months collapsed – two of them in August 2017 and five in 2018.
Most of them who were given liquidity support from the central bank squandered the monies while others allegedly obtained their licenses through dubious means.
Many have called on the central banks to sanction those behind the collapse of the banks.
According to Sam George, Bank of Ghana is also complicit because it failed to do due diligence before offering liquidity support to the defunct banks.
[contextly_sidebar id=”TC8trFF38ZgV0BqslBh16ZvFDtfCQcPS”]“These banks got distressed because they had poor internal controls and the way they disbursed their capital was poor, and that is why they got into distressed positions. Before the Bank of Ghana gave out liquidity support, what due diligence did they do on these banks to ensure that there were proper corporate governance structures there that would protect the Bank of Ghana’s money that they were giving to them,” he asked.
Parliament C’ttee to probe collapse of 7 banks
In a related development, the Finance Committee of Parliament has scheduled a three-day hearing to probe the collapse of the seven local banks.
“The committee has decided to hold hearings on the 5th to 7th September on the collapse of the banks here in Parliament,” the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah told the press on Wednesday.
Shareholders, ex-directors of UT and two others banned from the financial market
Meanwhile, the central bank has banned shareholders and ex-directors of three defunct banks – UT, Capital and Sovereign banks from Ghana’s financial market with immediate effect.
The ban is expected to last for five years.
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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin