General News of Thursday, 16 August 2018

Source: newswiregh

Boulders Report: GHC5million payment was for my personal house – Amoabeng clarifies

Prince Kofi Amoabeng Prince Kofi Amoabeng

Board Chairman of defunct UT Bank, Prince Kofi Amoabeng, has cleared the air on his alleged role in activities that led to the collapse of the bank.

The business mogul has dismissed suggestions he took an amount of GHS5 million meant for the servicing of a loan by a client and failed to disclose it to members of his board.

A statement released by Mr. Amoabeng Thursday night describes the claim as an untruth aimed at damaging his reputation. The statement further makes reference to how the misleading stories carried on various news portals and sourced to a report by Boulders Advisers Limited failed to capture his thoughts on the matter.

According to Mr. Amoabeng, he is at a loss as to why his response to investigators was “neither factored into the conclusion of the Boulders report nor any of the widespread media reportage.”

It adds, “on page 46 of the said report, it states, ‘when Boulders Advisors Limited enquired about this transaction, Mr. P.K. Amoabeng indicated he had sold his personal residence at Roman Ridge, Accra, to Mr. Kofi Jobs Gyebi.”

Prince Kofi Amoabeng has been in the news in the past weeks following an audit by the central bank into circumstances leading to the collapse of UT Bank.

Earlier reports had suggested Mr. Amoabeng had hidden the payment of some GHS 5million by a client from members of his board.

But Mr. Amoabeng in this statement has refuted the claims insisting the money paid was for his personal residence which he had put up for sale.

The gentleman who purchased the building, Kofi Jobs Gyebi, according to the statement, had already paid in full, his commitment to the Bank at the time of purchase.

“Mr. Gyebi after paying off in full his commitment to the bank expressed interest in purchasing my personal residence at Roman Ridge in Accra which I had put up for sale. Due to UT Bank’s challenges at the time, I instructed that payment of the said house be made to my personal account at UT Bank to help shore up the company’s liquidity. I wonder then how my decision not to disclose payment of monies into my personal account for the purchase of my personal residence constitutes a misdeed as suggested by several news reports,” the statement reads.

Read below Prince Kofi Amoabeng’s full statement