HFC Extraordinary General Meeting cancelled

The Extraordinary General Meeting of HFC Bank scheduled for January 20 has been cancelled because two shareholders had gone to court to seek an interlocutory injunction against the meeting.

A statement by the HFC Bank and copied to the GNA on Friday said 13 defendants in the suit included the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and Mr Ernest Thompson, the Director General of SSNIT.

SSNIT holds 26 percent shares in the HFC Bank.

The statement said the HFC Bank EGM was requisitioned by SSNIT ostensibly to cause the removal and replacement of two non-executive independent directors, Mrs. Muriel Edusei and Mr. Francis Koranteng from the HFC Bank Board.

It said “It believes the court injunction might create opportunity for shareholders of the bank to seek clarification from directors on recent happenings with the bank as regards the Mandatory Takeover by RBTT.”

The statement said there had been issues of alleged insider trading against the Republic Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (RBTT) which became a court matter between HFC Bank and RBTT recently.

It said although the Supreme Court upheld RBTT’s view that the complaint should first have been lodged with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and not at the court, the issue remained unresolved.

The statement said Mrs. Eudora Koranteng and Mr. Kwasi Asante, two concerned shareholders of the HFC Bank, individually filed complaints with the SEC to investigate alleged breaches against RBTT.

It added that earlier this week the two directors, whom SSNIT wanted removed, cautioned the Board not to disregard shareholder interest but consider it a responsibility to establish the truth of the allegation.

According to the statement, the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) of Ghana advised both SSNIT and SEC to investigate the matter of the alleged insider trading and report back to the Centre as soon as practicable.

Insider trading is one of the predicate offences of money laundering provided under Sec 1 (2) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2008 (Act 749), as amended.