The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has in a statement said the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) after investigations into specific cases of suspected financial crimes, has advised the Attorney General to prosecute the shareholders, directors or management of the defunct Savings and Loans Companies, Finance Houses, and Microfinance Institutions.
The Central Bank said in its public notices in 2019 announcing the revocation licences of certain defunct Savings and Loans Companies, Finance Houses, and Microfinance Institutions, the BoG cited a number of potentially criminal actions on the part of these institutions and their shareholders, directors or management, as the case may be.
Following further investigations into the failure of these institutions by the Receivers appointed by BoG, these cases were referred to EOCO for advice.
EOCO has conducted independent investigations into a number of these cases as listed below and has made recommendations to the Attorney General’s Department for consideration and possible prosecution.
“Following an emerging trend observed by the BoG over the last few years, BoG has since October 2020 submitted five (5) separate requests to EOCO for investigations into claims of persons (individuals, businesses, and law firms acting on behalf of clients) who have persistently made claims on the BoG to the effect that certain large sums of money purportedly remitted to them by foreign
counterparties through the banking system have been withheld by BoG.
“These claimants often attached documentation alleged to be messaging from the SWIFT international funds transfer system, as proof of the receipt and retention of their funds by BoG. Following BoG’s preliminary investigations which have shown that these claims are fake, BoG has referred such matters to EOCO for further investigation. EOCO has made significant progress in these investigations and has initiated prosecution in some of these cases, while investigations in other cases continue.