Minority calls for abrogation of Merchant Bank sale
The Minority in Parliament on Thursday demanded an immediate revocation of the purchase of Merchant Bank – Ghana Limited by the Fortiz Bank, insisting the deal was a “fraudulent sale” that shortchanged the people of Ghana.
They declared that due diligence was not undertaken by government and the Bank of Ghana before the transaction was carried out, characterizing the deal as a “scam, a fraud which is being perpetuated on the Ghanaian people”.
Addressing a press conference called by the Minority in Accra, Dr Mark Asibey-Yeboah, MP for New Juaben South said the haste with which the whole transaction, which did not meet the Bank of Ghana’s own rules, smirked of the “create, loot and share” syndrome.
The lawmaker who could not fathom how Fortiz Bank that was registered in June 2013 with only GHc 5 million initial capital and lacking necessary banking experience could acquire 90 per cent shares in the Merchant Bank Ghana (MBG) that had a stated capital of GH¢68 million.
The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and the State Insurance Company (SIC) who own MBG would retain only eight per cent and two per cent respectively.
He said what made the deal even more dubious was the GH¢90 million being offered by Fortiz Bank for MBG when the second largest bank in South Africa, First Rand Bank (FRB) with assets in excess of $103 billion, had offered GH¢199 million in exchange for 75 per cent of shareholding in the MBG, with SSNIT retaining 23 per cent shares and State Insurance Company still holding a two per cent shares.
To buttress his point, Dr Asibey-Yeboah stated that even though no agreement had been signed between Fortiz Bank and the other shareholders, the BOG had gone ahead to give approval for the sale, saying, “How can you give your daughter for marriage before he marriage rites are performed?
“This is the most bizarre and fraudulent deal we have witnessed in Ghana ever since Alfred Agbesi Woyome hoodwinked Betty Mould-Iddrisu and swindled the Ghanaian taxpayer for GH¢51.2 million for no work done”.
The Minority thus challenged the Governor of the BoG to prove to the nation what due diligence was done before the transaction was carried out, quizzing why the BoG would bypass the safe and experienced First Rand Bank and settle for Fortiz Bank that had no expertise in running a bank.
“The Ghanaian people have witnessed unprecedented corruption in the last five years. The creation, looting and sharing have been more than enough….After Mabey and Johnson and Woyome and Waterville and Isofoton and SADA and GYEEDA and SUBAH and Vickyleaks and all the rest, please spare us FORTIZ”.
“Right before our very eyes, the looting brigade is at work. This time around our future savings with the SSNIT scheme has been hit by the “create, loot and share” syndrome”, the Minority held.
Source: GNA