Businessman and former boss of the defunct UT Bank, Prince Kofi Amoabeng, has revealed that officers at the Economic and Organized Crime Office( EOCO) and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service do not show an understanding of the banking sector. This, he said, became evident when they asked him questions as part of their investigations into the collapse of his bank, the UT Bank.
Mr Amoabeng noted that even though it is irritating to have persons who do not understand the banking sector seeking to expose wrongdoing in it, one has to be patient and cooperate with the them.
“They don’t. That is part of the problem. That’s the irritation bit. But you have to take your time because that’s what the state has. And the state is supposed to used them to expose misconduct and malfeasance and whatever…And if they ask you a stupid question, you still have to bear with it and try and educate and let them see your point,” he told journalist Kyenkyenhene Boateng in an interview.
He disclosed that at one point, he suggested that EOCO include a banker and an accountant on the committee investigating bankers so as to make things easier for those of them under investigation.
“At one point, I remember I even suggested to EOCO that they should get a banker and an accountant on the committee so it will be easier for me to explain certain things,” he stated.
Mr Amoabeng, until the collapse of his bank in August 2017, was celebrated for his enviable achievements as a banker and businessman. His UT Bank was a quintessential example of how Ghanaians could be successful in the banking space.
But the bank went down when, according to the regulator, the Bank of Ghana, it failed to meet the minimum capital requirement for banks at the time, making it insolvent.
In revoking the license, the Bank of Ghana stated that: “Despite repeated agreements between the Bank of Ghana and UT Bank…to implement an action plan to address these significant shortfalls, the owners and managers of UT Bank… were unable to increase the capital of the banks to address the insolvency.”
