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Business News of Thursday, 27 February 2020

Source: ghanaguardian.com

Adongo exposes NPP over alleged plots to sell CBG to Fidelity bank

MP for Bolgatanga Central Constituency, Isaac Adongo MP for Bolgatanga Central Constituency, Isaac Adongo

The Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, has accused the NPP government of being involved in shady moves to sell the Consolidated Bank to the Fidelity Bank.

He is asserting that, the Fidelity Bank, is one of the partners of the NPP administration, being used to allegedly carry out a "gimmick" orchestrated to defraud Ghanaians of billions of Cedis.

The CBG is just a year-old but according to Adongo, there is a grand machination by the Akufo-Addo administration to hand over the bank to the Fidelity Bank.

The ranking member of Parliament's Finance Committee claimed on Tuesday that, the Consolidated Bank, which was born out of the closure of five indigenous banks, is on its way into the hands of Fidelity Bank, in a "sweetheart deal" cooked by the Finance Ministry.

At a forum in Accra organised by the policy Think Tank, Coalition For Restoration, Isaac Adongo enumerated some alleged fishy transactions the Bank has involved itself in and warned that the NDC will let them account for all its dealings with the Akufo-Addo administration.

"Another thing the Fidelity Bank is doing....I'm aware they have been offered the opportunity by the CBG bank," he said. "The Bank's owners are in court seeking redress to take back their property, and you are conniving with Government to take over their assets. "You do it at your own risk because the wheels of justice grind but slowly, but the Justice of the state can change at any time in favour of the press."

The Consolidated Bank came into being in 2018 following the closure of the Sovereign Bank, Royal Bank, The Beige Bank, Construction Bank and Unibank.

In his presentation at the Kama Conference Centre on Tuesday, the chartered accountant reiterated his claim that the closure of the five banks to establish the consolidated Bank was a move backed by fraudulent intent.

He warned that the Fidelity Bank will be made to account for every fishy deal it enters with the Government of Ghana when the NDC comes to power.

"I want to serve caution to Fidelity Bank that when you choose to deal with Government finances you must be prepared to account," he said.

"As we speak today livelihoods have been blocked, jobs have been lost and the least that Nana Akufo-Addo and Ken Ofori-Atta can do is to spare us this gimmick of relying on Fidelity Bank to do anything that is wrong with the Banking sector because at the appropriate time the wheel of justice will win."

The NDC had on many occasions criticised the Government's move to close those financial institutions, who needed a little support from government to survive.

But the Bank of Ghana disagreed, saying those banks were beyond rehabilitation.