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Company News of Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Source: mynewsgh.com
2019-02-20
Isaac Adongo, Financial Officer of the Minority
Isaac Adongo, a minority finance minister in the Ministry of Finance, described Ghana's Amalgamated Trust Limited as an outrageous waste of taxpayers' money by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
"Let me make it clear that GAT is a total scam, a dubious arrangement and a national tragedy brought together by people claiming to be interested in the welfare of Ghana, but with a clear plan to make you pay astronomically during next five years. Ken Ofori-Atta can take control of these banks, "he said in his latest article on GAT.
In its badysis, the Bolgatanga Central legislator baderted that this arrangement was dubious, as it aimed to impose on the taxpayer a huge budget cost with no real value, except to satisfy Ken Ofori-Atta.
"I will also outline how the full deal is already prepared for Franklin Templeton (FT) Plc's 2017 Ken Bond fame to come and take," he threatened.
Read the full text of his argument below;
GAT IS A SCAM AND HIGH TAX WASTE
In January this year, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana announced that private pension funds had entered into a private agreement to help these banks recapitalize after their failure at the end of December 31, 2018, the deadline for recapitalization. At the time, we were told that this would not cause any cost to the state. Several questions were asked about the ownership of GAT and the underlying private funds. These have never been answered so far.
To date, the government has not responded to the question of the property of GAT. Who are the so-called private pension funds and what are their names? What is the ownership structure of these fund management companies? Interestingly, pension funds claim not to have been informed or consulted about GAT. So who are the owners?
Information provided to the Registrar General's Department indicates that GAT was incorporated on 17 December 2018 with the National Trust Holding Company Limited (NTHC) as a 100% shareholder on behalf of the Government of Ghana. It is interesting to note that the NTHC belongs to the Social Security and National Insurance Fund (SSNIT) – 43.48%; the Public Insurance Company (SIC) – 19.70%; the National Investment Bank (NIB) – 19.70%, the company AccreCon Consulting – 12.39%; and the NTWCC – 4.73%.
Thus, how can GAT be a private sector initiative even though its designated shareholder is an entity majority-owned by the state? Are the government and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana saying that the so-called private sector investors could not, by themselves, incorporate a vehicle to take advantage of an opportunity, but had to count on the government to identify this opportunity, establish an SPV, and then hand them to them through a dubious ploy to then use to save so-called five banks, including two national banks? Clearly, GAT is a state-owned entity and, as such, its debts must therefore take into account the tax costs borne by the state.
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