Retract and apologize - GREDA gives Sam George 7-day ultimatum over real estate comment

The Executive Council of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) have expressed their displeasure over recent remarks about Ghana’s real estate sector which were made by the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampam, Sam Nartey George.

According to the Association, the lawmaker in making his submission erred when he described the entire real sector business in Ghana as a haven for individuals to launder money acquired through illicit means and ways.

In a statement issued by GREDA and sighted by GhanaWeb Business, the Ningo Prampram MP, must in 7 days render an immediate unqualified apology and retraction to the statement he made on the July 22nd edition of the Joy News' File.

“It is therefore an affront to our genuine hardworking members for this Honorable MP to make such an unguarded and irresponsible utterance without offering any proof whatsoever.

We demand an immediate unqualified apology and retraction of this unfortunate statement within 7 days of this press statement,” the statement read in part.

GREDA continued, “We however, wish to serve him notice and notice is hereby served that we reserve our right to seek legal redress should he not retract his unfortunate comments and apologize accordingly.”

The Association, however, reminded the lawmaker that as part of efforts to ensure the real estate sector is sanitized, it collaborates with the Economic Crime and Intelligence Office (EOCO) and Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) and other parallel state agencies to implement of the Anti-Money Laundering Law, AML (Act 749) as amended.

“Members of our Association are hardworking Ghanaians who every day have to battle with the economic conditions in the country as every other business sector is doing,” GREDA emphasized.

Read the full statement from GREDA below:



Background

On the July 22nd edition of the Joy News' File, Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampam, Sam Nartey George raised concerns over the legitimacy of some real estate businesses operating in the country.

According to him, the real estate sector has become a haven for individuals to launder money acquired through illicit means and ways.

He suggested that individuals engaging in these money laundering schemes in the real estate sector often exchange these properties as part of a ploy to effectively ‘clean’ illicit funds.

“Real estate business in Ghana is money laundering. If our authorities want to deal with it, they will deal with it,” Sam George lamented.

He explained that “the cost of real estate in Ghana is not justifiable by any stretch. You keep seeing all these new high-rise buildings going up and they are selling them for half a million, a million dollars and they keep buying and buying amongst themselves."

"…I have dirty money to clean, I put up a real estate property, you have dirty money you come and buy the property from me and then automatically your money becomes clean, then tomorrow you also start building your own then I come back and buy and we are just cleaning the money,” Sam George added.

The Ningo Prampram MP further asserted that the funds generated from such illegal activities are subsequently used to finance political campaigns and among others.

His remarks were on the back of a recent newspaper report from The Chronicle detailing how a former Minster of Sanitation, Cecilia Abena Dapaah had been keeping huge sums of foreign currency in her home which was subsequently stolen by her two maids.

MA/NOQ

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