BCCI CUSTOMERS APPEAL

Customers of the collapsed Bank for Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) today appealed to the Bank of Ghana (BOG) to insure a sizeable amount of depositors' funds in all banks operating in the country to forestall any unexpected huge losses by depositors. They suggested that by insuring up to 10 million cedis of deposits under insurance brokerage, customers who saved all

their monies in banks that collapse would not suffer huge losses. The customers made the suggestion after being briefed at a meeting in Acra on the latest developments in a legal suit at an Accra high court seeking the liquidation of BCCI. The thirty two petitioners, who are mostly Ghanaians, had at the time of the collapse of BCCI in 1991, deposited 380,000 dollars, 14,000 pounds sterling, eleven million CFA, 3.4 million French francs and 100,000 deutsche marks.

Mr Ekow Awoonor, counsel for the customers, said BCCI has, since 1991, been unable to operate its foreign account thus denying his clients access to their monies. Mr Awoonor said all attempts by his clients to have their monies back have failed. "We are therefore praying before the court on the wheels of Bodies Corporate (Official Liquidation Act 80) of 1963 to liquidate the bank and have whatever remains disbursed." Mr Awoonor was, however, pessimistic about the recovery of the full deposits but said "anything gathered at the end of the day would calm nerves." BCCI Ghana was closed down by the Bank of Ghana when its parent company went bankrupt in 1991.