Bank Collapse: Punish Those Responsible – Yofi Grant

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr Yofi Grant, has called for the prosecution of persons involved in any crime in relation to the recent collapse of some local banks.

On Wednesday, 1 August 2018, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) announced the formation of Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited by fusing together five struggling local banks – uniBank, Sovereign Bank, Construction Bank, The Royal Bank and Beige Bank.

Earlier in 2017, two local banks – UT Bank and Capital Bank – collapsed and were subsumed by GCB Bank.

Mr Grant told Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show host, Moro Awudu, on Tuesday, 7 August 2018, that: “If there are criminal elements within what has been done in the past, the law must take its course, we must always respect the law”.

Mr Grant said he does not think that “heads rolling will solve the problem”, adding that supervisory institutions should be “setting the rules and making sure that everybody sticks to the rules, then we don’t have situations like that”.

Meanwhile, the BoG has disclosed that “people have been invited by EOCO (Economic and Organised Crime Office)” for questioning in relation to the collapse of the local banks.

Mr Osei Gyasi, Head of Banking Supervision at BoG, disclosed that relevant information, including names of some individuals responsible for the collapse of the five banks, have been submitted to EOCO.

“If you are aware that EOCO has invited some people, certainly that couldn’t have been done without a report,” he told Accra-based Joy FM on Monday, 6 August 2018.

“If it comes out that somebody compromised [the system], the appropriate sanctions will be applied. We have done the report and the period in which these things occurred are clearly defined. These things occurred under the administration of some people and once the people have been identified and they are found culpable by the law, the appropriate sanctions will be applied,” he added.

Mr Gyasi, however, declined to give specific details as to whether those invited included current or past employees of the Bank of Ghana.