GREDA was 'playing the ostrich' with Sam George; money laundering exists in real estate – Economist

Economist and Political Risk Analyst, Dr. Theo Acheampong has waded into conversations following the recent admission by the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) over money laundering activities taking place in the real estate sector.

In a tweet posted via the X platform, formerly Twitter, Dr Acheampong said it was widespread knowledge that there were lots of doggy and illicit money flows into the country’s real estate sector.

“There's plenty 'washing' of illegal loot through the real estate sector. A friend who's in the real estate sector educated me on what was happening, and I was gobsmacked,” he wrote.

His comments come after GREDA bemoaned the influx of illicit money into the real-estate sector – describing it as alarming and with dire repercussions for the economy.

Executive Secretary for the Association, Samuel Amegayibor, told the B&FT newspaper on October 6, 2023, that the real estate sector is increasingly becoming a haven for people who have dishonestly acquired wealth; indicating a rapid rise of criminals purchasing high-value properties in recent years.

“The real-estate is an attractive target for money laundering due to its high value, low transparency and ease of ownership transfer. This makes it easier for criminals to use properties to store and move illicit funds without attracting much scrutiny.

"If you look at how the banks and other financial institutions operate these days, you will realise that they have tightened their systems; so, it is not easy for laundered money to pass through. This leaves the real-estate sector as the next frontier; we have noticed that people buy properties in the names of relatives and friends, making it difficult to trace the source and true beneficial owners,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Sam George had earlier explained that individuals engaging in these money laundering schemes in the real estate sector often exchange these properties as part of a ploy to effectively ‘clean’ illicit funds.

“Real estate business in Ghana is money laundering. If our authorities want to deal with it, they will deal with it,” Sam George lamented.

He continued that, “the cost of real estate in Ghana is not justifiable by any stretch. You keep seeing all these new high-rise buildings going up and they are selling them for half a million, a million dollars and they keep buying and buying amongst themselves."

"…I have dirty money to clean, I put up a real estate property, you have dirty money you come and buy the property from me and then automatically your money becomes clean, then tomorrow you also start building your own then I come back and buy and we are just cleaning the money,” Sam George earlier said added.

But the Executive Council of GREDA in a response dated July 25, 2023 expressed their displeasure over the remarks made about Ghana’s real estate sector by the Ningo Prampram lawmaker Samuel Nartey George.

According to the Association, the lawmaker in making his submission erred when he described the entire real sector business in Ghana as a haven for individuals to launder money acquired through illicit means and ways.

They further urged him to render an immediate unqualified apology and retraction to the statement in 7 days after making the remarks on July 22, 2023.

Reacting to this, also, Dr. Acheampong described GREDA’s debacle with the Ningo Prampram MP, Sam George as 'playing the ostrich' when the lawmaker vehemently described the real estate sector as a haven for money laundering activities on the July 22nd edition of the Joy News' File.

GREDA was playing the ostrich when @samgeorgegh said the same openly on #Newsfile a few weeks ago. Everybody knows there's lots of dodgy/illicit money flowing into real estate. There's plenty 'washing' of illegal loot through the real estate sector. A friend who's in the real… pic.twitter.com/TPU8xZmDOr

— Theo Acheampong, PhD (@mytheoz) October 7, 2023

MA/AW

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