Liquidation of BHC legal - Registrar
Another upward shift in All-Share Index
Accra (Greater Accra) 1 Feb. 2000
An official of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) on Monday revealed that some unidentified persons have succeeded in falsifying signatures of Bank for Housing and Construction (BHC) depositors and withdrawn huge sums from the ADB.
Speaking to BHC depositors who have thronged the ADB headquarters branch at the Cedi House to withdraw their moneys, Mr Owusu Ansah said, at least four signatures have so far been scanned and found to be at variance with those of the actual depositors.
He, therefore, announced a new strategy for ensuring that false withdrawals are prevented.
"All those who have finished verifying the transfer of their account from BHC to ADB would have to wait for their signatures to be scanned on the computers at BHC before they could receive their moneys".
Mr Owusu Ansah said the process could be delayed by the strike action initiated by the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU).
He explained that the BHC workers, who are being assisted by personnel from Bank of Ghana and Price Waterhouse Coopers in the liquidation process, have joined in the strike action, adding, "they even prevented the liquidators from entering the offices this morning".
Mr Owusu Ansah, however, assured the aggrieved depositors that the bank has sought the assistance of the military and some Indian experts "to enable us have access to the computers and finish the scanning this afternoon, so that we could pay you by tomorrow morning".
He said ADB is in the process of moving those computers to its premises in order to facilitate the payment process. "Until then, we would have to be floating between the two banks to scan signatures before we can make any payments to prevent false withdrawals.
"We appreciate your plight and the fact that schools have re-opened and you need money to pay fees and buy books and provisions for your wards, but that is the best we can do for now".
Meanwhile, as at 1255 hours, representatives of the various banks were at a meeting at the ADB headquarters boardroom 402 to take a decision on whether to fully participate in the ICU strike.
The GNA learnt later that junior staff of the bank has joined in the strike action while the senior staff attend to customers needs, especially the BHC depositors, whose accounts have been transferred to ADB.
GRi../
Liquidation of BHC legal - Registrar
Accra (Greater Accra) 1 Feb. 2000
The Registrar General's Department on Monday said the liquidation of the distressed Bank for Housing and Construction (BHC) is in consonance with the law.
Mr Jacob Arko Saah, an Assistant Registrar-General told the Ghana News Agency that BHC was established under the Bank for Housing and Construction Decree 135 of 1972. Under that law, BHC could only be liquidated by an Act of Parliament.
Mr Saah was reacting to reports alleging that the liquidation exercise runs foul of the law.
He said the Statutory Corporations (Conversion to Companies) Act 461 of 1993 was passed to make it possible for the BHC and other Statutory corporations to be converted into companies limited by shares under the Companies Code Act 179 of 1963.
"By Section Seven of Act 461, upon registration of the successor under the companies code, the statutory corporation ceases to exist and the decree that set it up is deemed to have been repealed".
"Consequently the liquidation under the Bodies Corporate (Official Liquidations) Act has full legal effect and is not tainted with any legal imperfections."
The BHC and the Co-operative Banks were put into official liquidation by their shareholders on January 17, 2000.
GRi../
Another upward shift in All-Share Index
Accra (Greater Accra) 1 Feb 2000
The Accra bourse began the week on Monday with another upward shift in the All-Share Index but this time by only 0.06 points compared to last Friday's 1.24 points.
The All-Share Index thus closed trading at 741.66 from 741.60 bringing the change in the year to 0.75 per cent.
Market capitalisation fixed at 3,214.09 billion cedis higher than 3,213.99 billion cedis recorded at the close of Friday.
With the exception of shares on offer, other market indicators declined by huge volumes with the total shares traded closing at 4,800 compared to 93,200 shares traded at the previous session.
Total shares posted on the bourse went up to 503,470 shares as against a total bid of 51,450 shares.
Shares offered and bided on Friday stood at 497,350 and 121,300 shares.
In the broader market there was only one price change with as many as nine equities registering negative pressures.
Fan Milk Limited (FML) gained five cedis to close trading at 935 cedis.
The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 470
AGC 18,700
ALW 2,489
BAT 466
CFAO 38
EIC 1,880
FML 935 +5
GBL 1,450
GCB 770
GGL 951
HFC 750
MGL 200
MLC 150
MOGL 14,500
PAF 295
PZ 800
SCB 19,200
SPPC 150
SSB 1,988
UNIL 1,850
UTC-E 125
CMLT 420
GRi../