Group petitions Parliament, three anti-corruption agencies to investigate GCB Board
The Good Governance Advocacy Group, Ghana (GGAGG), has petitioned Parliament and three state anti-corruption agencies to investigate the conduct of the GCB Bank Ghana Limited Board for alleged maladministration.
The three state anti-corruption institutions are the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), and the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
Mr Listowell Nana Kusi-Poku, the Executive Director, GGAGG, who made the disclosure on Tuesday at a press conference in Accra, said the people of Ghana had at least 73.14 per cent shares in GCB Bank, hence, the need for them to know about happened within the Bank.
He said the GGAGG petitioned the Speaker of Parliament on the subject matter because the House had financial oversight responsibility on GCB Bank.
“We encourage the august House to invoke Standing Order 151 (2) of Parliament, which establish the Public Accounts Committee to exercise an oversight function over the Executive (in this case the Board) on public expenditure on behalf of Ghana’s Parliament and the people of Ghana by extension,” he said.
Mr Kusi-Poku said they petitioned CHRAJ purely on administrative breaches and conflict of interest at the GCB Bank.
Regarding EOCO, he said they petitioned the Office because they wanted it to look at issues of alleged economic organized crime.
Concerning the Office of Special Prosecutor, he said they were seeking the Office to investigate specific cases of alleged or suspected corruption and corruption-related offences at GCB Bank involving public officers.
“If you do an audit of the tray, you will shockingly discover a clear idea about the manifestation of corrupt practices under the present Board,” Mr Kusi-Poku said.
He said per their independent investigations, they had stumbled on several cases ranging from corruption, abuse of office, capricious use of discretion and conflict of interest.
“We uncovered bad loans, nonperforming loans and bad debts, among other things during our (investigations), contrary to the recommendations of the Risk Control Department of the Bank, which is supposed to be an internal control mechanism.”
Mr Kusi-Poku said the GGAGG was looking forward to the swift intercession of Parliament and the other public anti-corruption institutions to “rescue GCB Bank from extinction”.
Source: GNA