'They took the $200,000' - Kofi Amoabeng reveals how trusted UT Bank staff betrayed him

Retired military officer and founder of the defunct UT Bank, Captain Prince Kofi Amoabeng, has opened up on some of the events that transpired before the collapse of the bank.

Speaking in an interview on The Peswa podcast, and sighted by GhanaWeb on September 29, 2026, Kofi Amoabeng said that some of the people he trusted the most in the company betrayed him.

He said some of the people he trusted started staying away from the company and cutting deals with customers at the expense of the bank.

He cited an example of how the relationship manager schemed to get a whopping $200,000 from a loan requested by a client, who needed funds to buy a vessel.

“At one point, officers in the corporate department had demanded that a client pay them $200,000 out of the loan they were giving the client - $200,000!! And they actually took the money,” he said.

He said that his officer came to explain to him that the client needed a $1.7 million loan and not the $1.5 million he had earlier requested.

“Later on, it got to me that, you know, they asked for the $200,000. The client said he couldn't take it for the money, and they said they would let him take more loan,” he said.

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He further stated that sacking the officers involved in these schemes could not save the situation.

“At one point I sacked the head of corporate and his deputy. Then we quickly looked for another head for corporate banking - he was worse, so I had to sack him,” he stated.

Kofi Amoabeng went on to say that a betrayal by the staff he trusted the most made him realise that things had reached a point of no return.

“One which really broke my heart was that I set up a control unit, and this control unit were auditors and loan officers, and they were supposed to go around all the branches and examine all the loan agreements and things like that and payments that they had made.

“They brought the report from Takoradi, and Takoradi was where I had one strong UT financial service guy that I trusted, and under his watch, they had approved a loan using a two-storey building as collateral. When the control unit visited the place, it was a marshy land. So, when I read the report and saw the area manager signed on it, I said, ‘If gold will rust, then what will happen to lesser metals?’” he said with his hands on his head.

Watch a video of his remarks below (from 1:40:00):



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