Founder and Executive Chairman of Groupe Nduom, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom has shared a memorandum for a cabinet meeting on social media that suggests former Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, petitioned Cabinet to ensure the collapse of the defunct GN Bank to prevent any political interference.
According to Nduom, the memorandum requested that the cabinet revoke the banking license of GN Bank.
Nduom alleged that the rationale behind Ken Ofori-Atta’s move was to neutralize the bank and prevent it from being used to politically antagonize the ruling government.
“I have with me here a memorandum submitted by the Minister of Finance at that time, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, asking Cabinet to agree for GN Bank to be collapsed, for its license to be taken. This memorandum didn’t consider that this bank was the biggest bank with the widest distribution in Ghana.
“It didn’t recognize that we were providing banking services that increased financial inclusion in Ghana. It didn’t recognize that we were supporting financial development and economic development in Ghana.
“It just said, these people are causing us problems and therefore it might affect our political chances, so let’s shut it down,” Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom claimed in a viral video shared on X formerly Twitter.
He acknowledged that, although the memorandum was presented to the cabinet, the cabinet did not consent to Ken Ofori-Atta’s request to revoke the bank’s operating license.
In 2019, the Bank of Ghana revoked the licenses of 23 savings and loans companies and finance house companies, which included the GN Bank. The bank subsequently sought legal action challenging the revocation of GN Savings and Loans’ license by the Bank of Ghana.
But in January of this year, an Accra High Court presided over by Justice Gifty Addo Adjei upheld the legality of the Central Bank’s decision, emphasizing the institution’s right to revoke the license due to governance deficiencies that rendered GN Savings and Loans unable to meet its debt obligations.
Watch the video below