General News of Wednesday, 22 August 2018

Source: mynewsgh.com

CEO of Man Capital goes into hiding after squandering millions of clients’ cash

Michael Allan Asare, CEO of Man Capital Holdings Michael Allan Asare, CEO of Man Capital Holdings

Mr Michael Allan Asare, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Man Capital Holdings has gone into hiding and his whereabouts currently unknown after squandering investments of his clients running into several millions of Ghana cedis.

Some of the aggrieved clients from the Northern, Greater Accra and Volta Regions according to investigations conducted by MyNewsGh.com, have started suing the defunct company with the hope of attaching some properties in order to defray the debts owed them.

Sources, however, revealed that offices in Tamale and Ho have already been auctioned and the amount realized can only pay a fraction of the total debt.

Some of the frustrated clients who invested hundreds of thousands of the Ghana cedis into the company told this portal that initially, he was picking their telephone calls and giving them hope of refunding their investments but has since gone quiet and his whereabouts unknown.

MyNewsGh.com earlier made contacts with Mr Michael Allan Asare who admitted his company was in distress but indicated that there were efforts behind the scenes to have the matter resolved.

In what appeared to be a desperate attempt to absolve himself of blame, he claimed some top management of the company were behind his current predicament.

On when he was certain monies owed clients could be paid, he threw his hands in the air in despair except to say very soon.

Meanwhile, in the heat of demands for refunds the Chief Executive Officer of the ManCapital Micro finance, Mr Michael Allan Asare told graphic.gh.com that most of the deposits extended to other customers as loans had not been repaid.

“See, we have more than GH¢15 million sitting in our books as loans to some customers who have defaulted in repayment, which is why we are having these challenges”, he said.

Mr Allan Asare said Man Capital was planning a payment schedule with some of the agitated customers who, he said, could be very aggressive.

This however has gotten out of hand as a lot of customers are agitated about the inability of the institution to pay them, with many suing them to retrieve their money.

One customer who spoke to us on the issue, narrated how she has over 300,000 Ghana cedis locked up there in investment which Man Capital has refused to release to her with accompanying interest.

The Bank of Ghana has said they are monitoring the Microfinance and Savings and Loans keenly.

The Head of Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department (OFISD) of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Mr Kofi Amoa-Awuah, hinted that the central bank was sanitizing the microfinance sector with the suspension of fresh licensing since 2016, when the challenges first began.

“We have increased the numbers, we have increased the mechanisms as well, we have sent people to the regions, so we have done something to strengthen supervision of these microfinance companies,” Mr Amoa-Awuah said.

In 2016, the BoG revoked the licences of 70 microfinance institutions in the country for their inability to match liabilities with assets.

The CID Boss has declined comments on the woes of her Microfinance and customers distress.

There are currently 546 microfinance institutions, comprising 468 microfinance companies, 67 money-lending ones and 11 financial non-governmental organisations.

In 2016, the BoG increased the minimum paid-up capital for microfinance companies and money lending companies from GH¢500,000 and GH¢300,000 respectively to GH¢2,000,000 and that all existing microfinance institutions had up to December 2018 to meet the capital requireme.