‘Hypocritical’ GSE and SEC must ‘free’ themselves from Ken Ofori-Atta – Adongo

Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) Bolga Central Member of Parliament Isaac Adongo has said the Ghana Stock Exchange and its regulator counterpart, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are frolicking needlessly with political actors in the running of their affairs.

He was of the opinion that they were allowing too many “invisible hands into Ghana’s financial markets”, singling out for condemnation, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, whom he accused of “maltreating” and “disregarding” the interest of investors using the GSE and SEC as fronts.

Mr Adongo was reacting to the suspension of the shares of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) by the Stock Exchange when “newspaper sources” broke the news that Unibank had taken over ADB because Belstar Capital, Starmount Development company, EDC as well as SIC Financial Services Limited, had all pledged their shares, proceeds, entitlement and voting rights to Unibank.

Mr Adongo said the management of the Stock Exchange were in the know of the pledge of shares, pr“The GSE and SEC already know the shares are pledged, so why were they suspending shares. GSE Suspended trading to protect Ken Ofori-Atta’s interest of ADB staying somewhere. GSE must stop political gimmickry.

“Someone just pledged shares, and you know by the rules, when it is pledged it can’t be traded.. because they are not available for trading… so what are you suspending them for; especially when there are plethora of actions?” He asked.

“GSE must be more professional. Ghana is not for Ken Ofori Atta. Yoofi Grant should concentrate on Ghana, not Asia. Trotting along the globe for funds and taking per diem is wasteful to tax payers when local investors are being bullied.” He alleged.

“What did Unibank say in its statement that The GSE didn’t know? Because they manage the Central Securities Deposits they will know the shares have been pledged. You cant pledge and keep it a secret. Market information is important. You cant keep such a transaction under the wraps. GSE should have made that information public even before the newspapers.

“Why go and suspend a company when you already knew about the transaction. Clearly this is a failed system, a system, orchestrated to protect the empire of certain individuals and we as a country must resist that. We cant have another oppressors” he said.oceeds and voting rights to Unibank long before the newspaper sources broke the story because the pledge to Unibank couldn’t have happened without their authorization and supervision by law.

“Ghana Stock Exchange and Securities and Exchange Commission are acting hypocritical. They manage Central Securities Depository (CSD) and know that Central Security Deposits can be pledged as collateral. All pledged securities that are pledged in the CSD cannot be traded on the market and will not be released until the pledgor extinguishes his pledge. And it take a mere letter to pledge the shares”, he said.