Owner of defunct UT Bank Captain Prince Kofi Amoabeng (Rtd) has revealed he once bailed President Akufo-Addo and his cousin, the Finance minister Kenneth Ofori-Atta with UT Bank when they needed money.
The businessman says he still can’t fathom why his bank was collapsed especially when he had no qualms with handlers of the state as many have assumed.
According to him, the Finance minister whom he is still in good terms with was a friend he was so close to, “and could even dine with, spend time together in each other’s house” and couldn’t say his fall was orchestrated by strife.
Speaking with Captain Smart on Maakye Wednesday, March. 1, 2023, the entrepreneur and philanthropist said his utmost astonishment was when he spent time with Ken Ofori-Atta on a Sunday evening only to be informed the next morning that government had taken over his bank without prior notice to the development.
He said even though his bank was facing some challenges the time the NPP came to power, they were able to sort some state offcials out, making the revoking of his license a bit surprising.
“The very people who are in government now I’ve had the occasion to actually bail them out using the same UT and I gave them the opportunity and tried to become who they are now.
“The President himself (Akufo-Addo) at some point in time UT was there to bail him out and Ken Ofori Atta and the others, his partners and Databank, yes, UT bailed them out.
“So we’ve fed you before so even if you’ll collapse it, it should not be the way it was done. You can call me and tell me the situation is beyond repairs but not invading our premises with the police at 6am and hacking our signs down and I had no clue,” he told host, Captain Smart.
The retired military officer added “they were freezing the account of all UT companies it was not just the bank.”
With the trouble the man has been through in this country, he says he will not regret being a Ghanaian in his next life.
“I’ll like to be a Ghanaian again and I’ll stay in Ghana in my next life. I don’t like staying outside for long. The longest I’ve stayed is 2 weeks. So when I went to EOCO for investigations and they said they want to keep my passport I hurriedly handed it to them. Because I told them I don’t need a passport to go to Kukurantumi,” he disclosed.
Going back to banking is not something Mr. Amoabeng is considering however.
“I’m tired so I won’t go to banking anymore. I probably wouldn’t mind being on a board and giving advice. I’m now beyond that (operating a bank).
The UT Bank was collapsed in August 2017 as one of two banks –UT and Heritage banks –whose closure would herald a financial sector clean up exercise that saw the licences of nine banks and more than 370 financial institutions revoked.
The exercise cost the state in excess of GH¢21 billion and threw thousands of employees and hundreds of thousands of their dependents into disarray.
The institutions according to reports could have been resuscitated with GH¢9 billion.
By Felix Anim-Appau|Onuaonline.com
