BoG supervisory agents complicit in collapse of banks must face the law – Sam Okudzeto

Legal practitioner and current member of the Council of State, Sam Okudzeto says just as civil and legal proceedings have commenced against management members who played a role in the collapse of some banks across the country, he expects officials of the Bank of Ghana who are complicit in the banking sector crisis to take their turn in the face of the law.

Mr Okudzeto who was speaking on JoyNews' Upfront program Wednesday night said, had the Bank of Ghana officials at the supervisory department done their job effectively, they would have noticed and contained the crisis before it got out of hand.

“Those in the banking supervision department, many of them should be held responsible for some of the things that had happened. Because if they were doing their homework and checking the banks properly, they would have seen what was going on. And they would have reported to the governor or the board to take decision.”

He added that the governor should also be held responsible should it be revealed he played a role in the crisis.

The former Board Member of the Bank of Ghana who touted his tenure on the board said, the Paul Acquah-led leadership under which he served was the best banking period in the history of the country, adding that the genesis of the banking crisis can never be traced to their period.

Asked what his general expectations are for the years ahead, Mr Okudzeto said he expects the ongoing clean-up process including the legal actions being undertaken to result in the retrieval of all monies lost to the crisis.

“We should be able to retrieve every state money that has gone out, we should be able to recover them. Because these monies must have been invested in institutions or there is something we call tracing order. There is a tracing order whereby we can find out where the money went. And if the money went to family, friends, relatives and the rest of them; the companies that have been formed, the assets that have been acquired. All of them can be seized by order of the court to compensate the state.”

Since 2017, government and the Bank of Ghana have been working to address a banking crisis that led to the collapse of some banks in the country.

A cleanup exercise has since been conducted in the sector, with the process still ongoing.

On Monday, the Chief Executive Officer and Manager Director of the now-defunct Capital Bank, William Ato Essien, together with three executives of the bank, were arraigned before an Accra High Court by the state and charged with 26 counts, including stealing.