After falsely publishing an article about the Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) regarding the banks pledge of $100 million to President Akufo Addo’s One District, One Factory policy, the following media houses have rendered unqualified apologies to the bank for fear of prosecution.

The story which was originally generated by the Al-hajj newspaper, was copied and published by yen.com and peacefmonline.com without cross-checking their facts. For fear of being sued for defamation and false publication, the three media houses quickly apologized and retracted the story which sort to twist facts about the bank and its association with Ibrahim Mahama, brother of the former President, John Mahama.

The Al-hajj newspaper said “While our April 4, 2017 publication was not intended to malign or bring the name of the bank into disrepute or injure the reputation of any of its managers or shareholders, The aL-haJJ, nonetheless, retract the story and unreservedly apologize for any harm caused the bank, its managers and shareholders.”

Peacefmonline.com said “Merchant Bank Supports Govt. with 100 Million Dollars – The Ibrahim Mahama Factor. “On April 4, 2017, we published a story on our portal with the above headline. “Officials of Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) have since contacted us denying Mr. Mahama’s relationship with the bank; insisting he has never been a shareholder of the bank. “We hereby wish to retract the offending story and unreservedly apologize to the bank and all persons this story may have caused any harm. “As a mark of the sincerity of our apology, the publication has since been pulled down from our website.”

Yen.com the third culprit said “YEN wishes to officially retract a story we churned out to our readers titled “Mahama’s bank blesses Nana Addo with $100 million dollars”. “The story, which was culled and sourced from the Alhajj Newspaper has been described by management of UMB bank as “untrue and malicious” after a formal complaint from the bank shows that the bank has no relation with brother of the former president, Ibrahim Mahama.

“We state categorically that Mr. Ibrahim Mahama is neither a shareholder of UMB nor does he have a direct or indirect relationship or association with the bank and its shareholders,” management of UMB clarified to YEN.

To this effect, YEN retracts the story and hereby apologises to management of the bank.”