Pressure group, Occupy Ghana has petitioned the Speaker of Parliament, Mike Oquaye, objecting to the in-camera hearing into the banking probe by Parliament.
Officials of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and Finance Ministry will be questioned by Parliament’s Finance Committee about the roles the institutions played in the collapse of the banks.
The seven banks include, uniBank, Capital Bank, Beige Bank, UT Bank, Construction Bank, Sovereign Bank and Royal Bank.
The committee will meet first with PricewaterhouseCoopers and then with KPMG and then the new Consolidated Bank officials.
On Friday, the committee will meet other regulators like the Security and Exchanges Commission and the National Insurance Commission.
But in a letter to the Speaker of Parliament, Occupy Ghana stated that “it is our considered view that holding such an important inquiry in camera will not assuage the public hunger for truth in respect of the matters raised in the reports of Messrs KPMG and Boulders which are now in the public domain.”
The statement added that “we, as members of the public whose taxes funded the bailout monies, would want to be reassured that there has been no cover-up in the inquiry because of the personalities involved in the instances of malpractice identified in the reports.
“Any sitting in camera will breathe life into and give teeth to rumours that there are personalities behind huge kickback payments who are also cronies of politicians and who may be shielded by an in camera proceedings.”
Below is the full statement
OBJECTION TO SECRET HEARINGS ON BANKING CRISES
It has come to our attention that the Finance Committee of Parliament is set to conduct a probe into the failure of the 7 banks whose licences were withdrawn by the banking regulator, Bank of Ghana.
It is our considered view that holding such an important inquiry in camera will not assuage the public hunger for truth in respect of the matters raised in the reports of Messrs KPMG and Boulders which are now in the public domain.
In the interest of transparency, we urge the committee to hold its hearings open to the public. We, as members of the public whose taxes funded the bailout monies, would want to be reassured that there has been no cover-up in the inquiry because of the personalities involved in the instances of malpractice identified in the reports.
Any sitting in camera will breathe life into and give teeth to rumours that there are personalities behind huge kickback payments who are also cronies of politicians and who may be shielded by an in camera proceedings.
The public would also want to ensure that depositors are protected and that any loop holes that enabled this conduct to go on unchallenged would be addressed by the committee with a view to legislating to ensure the circumstances enabling malpractice are curbed so there is no repeat in future.
An open process will restore public confidence in the beleaguered banking sector and go some way towards repairing its tarnished image.
We are firmly of the view that any inquiry should seek to address the following
1. Regulatory failures that enabled the issuing of licences to banks when those organisations did not meet the financial criteria
2. Failure of compliance monitoring by the regulator post issuing of licences
3. Failure of oversight by the regulator after the banks had accessed bailout loans
4. A review of the conditions imposed on the banks for the bailout loans.
5. What measures are to be implemented to prevent recurrence?
6. Prescribed punishment to persons who have been engaged in criminality
7. Recommendations
We trust that the Committee tasked to probe into these failures will consider what is best in the public interest and agree with us that an open hearing will ensure full transparency and is indeed what is best in the interest of the public.
Yours in the service of God and Country
OccupyGhana®
Cc.:
The Chairman
Finance Committee of Parliament
Parliament House
Accra
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
