The Majority Leader and member of Parliament for Suame, Mr. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, has stated that the court suit filed by Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KMPG) against the owner, Dr. Kwabena Duffour and some 16 other shareholders, debtors and former directors of the defunct Unibank did not affect the work of the Finance Committee.
He explained that since the Committee’s work is basically information gathering and not investigation, the suit could not have stopped the Finance Committee of Parliament from going ahead with its information gathering mission.
Mr. Mensah-Bonsu pointed out that the Finance Committee did not gather information on the details of the suit but rather, focused on the circumstances, leading to the collapse of Unibank and the other six banks (UT Bank, Royal Bank, The Construction Bank, Sovereign Bank, Beige Bank and Capital Bank).
The Suame MP who doubles as the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Leader of Government Business was speaking to some members of the Parliamentary Press Corp on the sidelines of the Finance Committee’s closed door meeting with stakeholders related to the collapse of the seven indigenous banks.
Meanwhile, KPMG has contracted Labour Expert, Mr. Austin Gamey to meet various labour unions to decide on the take-home packages for the sacked workers of the collapsed banks.
KPMG suit and matters arising
The Receiver of Unibank, KPMG has filed a suit against the owner of Unibank, Dr Kwabena Duffuor and other 16 directors at the Accra High Court.
KPMG, among other things, is seeking an order from the court, directing that Dr. Duffuor and the other defendants be held liable and made to repay an amount of GH¢5,712,623,145 owed by the bank.
In a statement of claim, the Receiver avers, directors and shareholders of the Bank engaged in illegal transactions by approving unlawful loans and advances as well as illegal acquisition of assets in the name of related interests or persons related to the shareholders.
The defendants in the pending case include Hoda Holdings Ltd, Hoda Properties, Alban Logistics, Starlife Assurance, Dr Kwabena Duffuor II, Boatemaa Kakra Duffuor-Nyarko and Nana Boakye Asafu-Adjaye.
Breaches and Collapse of Unibank
In March 2018, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) announced a takeover of Unibank over what it said were liquidity challenges.
The Governor of BoG, Dr Ernest Addison, indicated that Unibank persistently suffered liquidity shortfalls and consistently breached its cash reserve requirement.
According to Dr. Addison, the bank failed to comply with a directive of the Bank of Ghana dated 26th October, 2017, under section 105 of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016(Act 930), prohibiting the bank from granting new loans and incurring new capital expenditure.
He again pointed out that the bank also failed to comply with several other regulatory requirements, including lending to a number of borrowers in excess of its regulatory lending limit (single obligor limit) under section 62 of Act 930.
The regulator later handed a temporary management of the Bank to KPMG.
However, in August this year, the BoG announced the official collapse of uniBank together with four others- Construction Bank, Beige, Royal and Sovereign Banks- and merged them into one Consolidated Ghana Bank.
Source: GhanaJustice/S.Ayisi
