KMA accuses Fidelity Bank of violating loan agreement

The Finance Director for Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), David Abbam Adjei, has accused Fidelity Bank of violating the terms of their agreement concerning a five million Ghana cedis loan for the continuation of the abandoned Krofrom Market project initiated by former President John Agyekum Kufuor.

According to the finance director, the agreement stipulated that KMA would request GH¢5 million from Fidelity Bank, and if approved, the bank would pay the money directly into KMA’s account, from which KMA would then disburse the funds as needed.

However, Adjei stated that the former Chief Executive of KMA, Osei Assibey Antwi, wrote a letter to Fidelity Bank instructing them to pay an additional GH¢3 million directly to the contractor.

He emphasized that nowhere in the agreement stated that Fidelity Bank should pay the GH¢5 million into a contractor’s account.

“What we instructed them was to pay it into KMA’s account, and we would pay the contractors,” he said.

Mr. Adjei further stated that Fidelity Bank violated the agreement by directly disbursing the funds to the contractors, which is not the normal procedure.

“We were asking for GH¢5 million; you open an account, put the money in the account, and the money is disbursed. But the money was directly disbursed to the contractors; that’s not the normal thing,” he added.

Again, the Finance Director for KMA revealed that Fidelity Bank opened an account for KMA without the consent of the Finance Director and the Coordinating Director, who are the signatories for KMA’s financial services.

“After the contract was signed, Fidelity opened an account for KMA without the consent of the Finance Director or the Coordinating Director,” he explained.

David Adjei further clarified that, as the Finance Officer, he is not a signatory to the account opened by Fidelity Bank, nor is he the Coordinating Director.

“If you ask whether an account was opened, it was later that we started our investigation, and then we became aware of all these happenings that an account was opened,” he told host Kojo Marfo on AbusuaNkommo at ABUSUA965FM.