Atik Mohammed: Fortiz behaving like a criminal gang?

“They (Fortiz) are behaving like a criminal gang because they issue statements without signing their names… If your intentions are clear and pure, why do you fear to sign your names…” questioned Atik Mohammed.

Atik Mohammed, Policy Analyst of the People’s National Convention (PNC) says if Fortiz Private Equity Fund was engaged in a genuine deal with the acquisition of Merchant Bank, any statement they issue would bear names of Executives of the company (Fortiz).

Fortiz issued a statement a few days ago indicating that they have completed the acquisition of Merchant Bank (Ghana) Limited. According to them, they had met all the conditions set by the Bank of Ghana. The statement began with “FORTIZ PE ANNOUNCES COMPLETION OF MERCHANT BANK ACQUISITION” and ended with a signature by ‘DIRECTORS-FORTIZ PE’.

Contributing to a panel discussion on Monday’s edition of PEACE FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’, Atik Mohammed said he does not understand why ‘nothing on the statement shows the letter was from Fortiz.’

He opined that no one needs a rocket scientist to realize that the takeover of Merchant Bank by Fortiz is questionable.

Commenting further on the Fortiz-Merchant deal, Atik said he just cannot understand why government will sell state institutions when they could have invested in them. According to him, if government had invested ‘a bit’ in those companies they would have survived and created more jobs.

He also added that the companies indebted to Merchant Bank were not committed to paying the ‘huge’ debt owed the bank; they ‘had a weak commitment to repaying the loan.

“Why do we have to sell Merchant Bank? It is as if there is this craze to sell every state institution whether it is viable or has potential or not. That is what Merchant bank is going through… Merchant Bank has got to this poor stage because of its debtors. If those in debt had paid their money, I don’t think Merchant Bank would have been this vulnerable…

Reports indicated that E&P had a weak commitment to repaying the loan, and they owe the highest percentage of money… he (Ibrahim Mahama, owner of E&P) has promised to pay the amount by 15 December and so he should be a man of his word and pay. I am waiting to see that after paying off his debt, SSNIT will still find it necessary to sell the bank.