DKM saga: Refunds to victims not in NPP manifesto – Ofori-Atta

Finance Minister-designate Ken Ofori-Atta has said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) did not capture in its 2016 manifesto payment of monies owed customers of the defunct DKM Diamond microfinance company.

According to him, processes have put in place by the previous government to ensure that persons who fell victim to the scam are paid their deposits.

DKM Diamond Microfinance and four others – Little Drops Financial Services, God is Love Fan Club, Jastor Motors and Investment Limited and Care for Humanity Fan Club – which turned out to be fraudulent companies, took deposits from clients, assured high interests on deposits, and later bolted with clients' investments when the companies became insolvent.

Subsequently, the then opposition leader Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo promised he would retrieve all monies locked up in the saga.

During his interaction with the chiefs and people of Busunya in the Nkoranza North constituency as part of his campaign activities ahead of last year’s elections, he said: “If voted as president, I will do everything in my power to get your monies back to you,” he told the ecstatic crowd.

The NPP leader was sceptical about the then government’s ability to retrieve the money since “it’s been promises galore by President Mahama”.

However, during his vetting by the Appointments Committee of parliament in Accra on January 20, Mr Ofori-Atta mentioned that the NPP did not capture the payment in its manifesto, implying that it would not be an immediate priority for the government.

He said: “It’s not in our manifesto to pay God is Love and DKM. I know that there are certain processes going on which I’m privy to…and then I think we are also introducing some protection of deposits which will go structurally to change that problem.

“Ponzi schemes and schemes like that are as a result of when there is lack of legislation and also too [many] licences approved making it impossible for the regulatory authority to monitor and manage.

“The central bank will need to strengthen the supervisory unit but clearly there are too many licences out there.”