It has emerged that the now-defunct UT Bank at a point saved Ghana’s Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta’s company from collapsing.
In a yet-to-be televised no holds barred exclusive interview with TV3 Business Focus, President of UT Holdings, Prince Kofi Amoabeng, revealed while President Nana Akufo-Addo was in opposition, he borrowed money from UT, ostensibly to fund his political campaign.
“In actual fact, our president; today’s president, when he was in opposition in his own party in around 2003, he came to UT of all places, a local company, and we gave him a loan and he admits that.
“The Minister of Finance, same thing; his own company would have gone down…and I said this’s Ghanaian company and they still got the potential and we help them out,” Mr Amoabeng said in the interview which on TV3.
The Bank of Ghana on Monday, August 14, 2017 revoked the licences of UT and Capital banks due to their insolvency, leading to a seamless takeover of the two banks by GCB Bank.
UT Bank, which was trading on the Ghana Stock Exchange, had its listing status also suspended.
Provisional figures showed the total liability of UT Bank stood at GH¢850 million while its total assets was pegged at GH¢112 million.
Mr Amoabeng has since the revocation of the licence of UT Bank been a subject of investigations for what the central bank has termed as ‘willful deceit’.
Ofori-Atta and I were ‘very close’
The businessman revealed he “used to be very, very close to him [Ken Ofori-Atta]” but said, “I’m sure now I’m not his friend anymore”.
He recalled how Mr Ofori-Atta called him on phone the day before his bank’s licence was revoked but the Finance Minister never mentioned anything about it.
According to him, they had a “normal chat” which bothered on family, noting he woke up the next morning, August 4, 2017 to find several missed calls on his phone.
“I woke up in the money and…I had 66 missed calls and I said the world is coming to an end,” he said in the interview, noting he immediately called his daughter who broke the news of the collapse of UT Bank to him.
Talking about the financial institution he created which existed for over 20 years before its eventual collapse, Mr Amoabeng said UT created the now waste management giant, Zoomlion, which started off by selling exercise books, saying “we gave him (owner) funding to buy a printing machine”.
‘We never gave money to political parties’
Though Mr Amoabeng said he gave loan to President Akufo-Addo, he indicated that politics was one area UT Bank never supported.
The company, he said, “never gave money to any political party” for the over 20 years it existed, a policy he indicated, ruffled political feathers, leading to the end of the financial institution.
For him, politicians do not mean well for the country for which reason he was not ready to give his money to support them to win political power to superintend over corruption.
“I said I don’t trust that they meant well for this country,” Mr Amoabeng told Paa Kwesi Asare, adding “I wasn’t going to give them my money for them to come to power and be corrupt on the people. That was my policy”.
According to him, the only time his money went into politics was when his sister, who he did not name, stood for primaries.
The business mogul indicated even in the midst of his crisis he resolved not to turn to politicians and people in high places, including pastors because they were going to eventually become his “head of HR” and be asking that their constituents and congregants were given employment.
Mr Amoabeng said he only “wanted people with merit” in his company and not those handpicked by politicians and pastors to be employed.
He said because he did not support politicians, he “failed on all counts and therefore, I was really a target for whoever”.
Source: 3news.com
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
Mr Amoabeng you were once my role model but im very dissapointed in u.This comment shouldnt have come from u
Was the loan given to them for free? They transacted business with your bank just like any other person. Deal with the issues that BoG stated. I blame the government for the delay in prosecuting people like you. You should be busy in court answering charges instead of living comfortably and granting interviews. .
this is very petty, Mr Amoabeng. did they pay the loans back and the fact that you gave them loans does give you the licence to mismanage your company. There was too much waste in your group. ***barred word*** expenditures. the law must deal with you
PLS NANA WAS NOT IN OPPOSITION IN 2003 ,HE WAS IN GOVERNMENT AND A MINISTER OF STATE.WHEN DID HE ACTUALLY BORROW FROM UT BANK.PLS GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT.
I blame BOG and the gov't for allowing these people to be walking free while tax payers pay for their mess! #***barred word***
PK, when Barclays bank gave your company an overdraft they did not go on air to say they helped you. BBG advanced billions og old Cedis to you. You also had government money to give out as loans without any interest been paid. The Japanese government rice cash. You Darling lady Pearl collapsed you bank. She was just pure Incompetent. You had a lot of incorruptible staff but brought in this queen and she collapsed the bank. Pearl and her cronies she brought to inflate prices of procurement, bad loan appraisals and nepotism. Ken, and Nana Addo I believe repaid their loans.
And after making Nana Aba a millionaire so she could pretend to be successful, you have the guts to blame others... man up.. silly
You are very right about Mr. Amoabeng my brother.
Mr Amoabeng, you are one of the respected people in Ghana and I quite remember you had work and the much publicity in the media to be able to migrate from UT financial services(a loan in less than 48 hours) to UT bank.I think as time went on you lost from the scene and handed over the bank to people who mismanaged it hence you collapsing your own bank and not the BOG. The bank of Ghana only applied the rules of the sector and UT bank could not pass the test. For Nana Addo and Ken Ofori Atta coming to UT for loan statement is unfortunate. If they are still owing you the supposed loan then is material but if they are not then re-tract and render unqualified apology to them. You might have also taken loan or gotten someones assistance before you established your bank but such people have not brought it to the public. Sir if am to deduce something from this then it means Akufo Ado should have ignored any mess in your bank because he has taken a loan from your bank before and Ofori Atta is your friend and has taken loan from your bank before so he must protect your interest at the expenses of those whose hard earned monies are been kept at your bank. Please if you suspect something fishy kindly take the BOG and those involved to court and not coming to reduce the high image you have built for years
What is he babbling about. UT was a bank and any person could take a loan from the institution. But the law of Karma is real. He has forgotten when he used macho men to cease properties of defaulters and some even died. Now, he has the guts to come on TV to throw his weight about. Why throw money after bad rubbish. Had he managed his bank well as some are doing, he would not have found himself in this unfortunate situation. And even how he says, 'today's president' shows his lack if respect for the president. The ghost of the departed are certainly after him.