Asuopra Rural Bank Customers Appeal To Him To Investigate Bank Of Ghana

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Asuopra Rural Bank Customers Appeal To Him To Investigate Bank Of Ghana

By Theodore K. Viwotor

It appears it would take another undercover investigative work by Anas Aremeyaw Anas at Bank of Ghana (BoG) for the institution to respond to the distress call of customers of Asuopra Rural Bank located at Afosu in the Eastern.

After failing for the past two years to withdraw their own savings with the bank, the customers are wondering if the Bank of Ghana is truly up to its mandate of supervising all banks and financial institutions in the country. Some of the customers are of the view that, since it only takes Anas’ investigative stories to let state institutions wake up, the government should consider giving him support to secretly investigate the national bank.

According to them, if several contacts with Apex Bank, Koforidua, the bank mandated by BoG to do that work, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO),publications in the newspapers and even a petition to the President cannot make any difference in their precarious situation, then Anas is the last resort.

Speaking to The Daily Democrat, some of the aggrieved customers said this suggestion stems from the fact that his investigative stories are so powerful that they move even the President to visit problem areas, as happened in the instance of the latest Tema Port expose and others.

They are, therefore, using this medium to appeal for support to the ace investigative journalist to undertake an in-depth piece on their situation that has existed for more than two years without any action from the Bank of Ghana.

They suspect there are some elements at the Bank of Ghana who are covering the misdeeds of their allies at the Asuopra Rural Bank, a reason the leadership of BoG hardly gets to know about this very glaring case. They wonder how annual reports by the bank does not reflect the actual problem they face, a phenomenon that strengthens their suspicion that someone is up to mischief and needs to be apprehended and prosecuted for playing with their destiny.

The Asuopra Rural Bank problem has been in existence for more than two years now. Customers of the bank have become fed up with visiting its premises, after doing so on several occasions without succeeding in making any withdrawals. Their cheques fail to clear as the bank stands on the brinks of bankruptcy.

With a skeletal staff going round to collect monies owed the bank, there is a false impression that the bank is functioning. According to our sources, when the staff collect such loans, they use them to pay their salaries.

According to Ahmed Ousman, Supervising Manager of the bank, who admitted all was not well with the bank, their problems were caused by the Bank of Ghana’s decision to increase its capital requirement, which his outfit failed to meet, coupled with a sudden panic withdrawal that drained the bank’s remaining resources. He promised that things would pick up when an annual general meeting is held. He, however, failed to give a date for that.

Bank of Ghana has failed to respond to The Daily Democrat’s letter sent to get their side of the story some two months ago.

Stay tuned.