Go back to arbitration with unibank shareholders – Court orders BoG

An Accra High court has ordered the Bank of Ghana to go back to arbitration with shareholders of unibank over the revocation of the bank license in 2018.

The court has also directed the parties involved in the case to choose their own arbitrator in the matter.

The court ruling comes after the appointed arbitrator Retired Supreme Court Judge Prof Date-Baah decided not to arbitrate the matter. The court ruled that the decision not to arbitrate goes beyond the mandate of the retired judge and therefore asked the parties to go back to the table and talk.

The shareholders of unibank are challenging the decision by the Central bank to revoke the license of the bank.

According the shareholders, the erroneous report by KPMG formed the basis for the revocation of the bank’s license and its good assets handed over to the Consolidated Bank Ghana.

The motion said further that the processes leading to the formation of the Consolidated bank were fraught with gross violations of the relevant laws of Ghana especially Banks and Specialized Deposit Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930) and the company’s Act of 1963 (Act 179)

The 17 shareholders in paragraph 15 of their motion also alleged that KPMG misled the Ministry of Finance to transfer large volumes of public funds to establish the new bank instead of just honouring their verified financial obligations to uniBank in order for the bank to continue running as a private entity.

The shareholders are praying the court to join the Attorney General as the 18th defendant in the case.