Group of 3 reimburse GHc1.8m from GHc17.7m

Business news for Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Source: Class FM

2020-09-02

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Former Executive Director of the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF), Mr. Daniel Duku, who, along with five other former members of the Fund’s management, has been tried for causing a financial loss of GHS42.8 million to the state , so Until now, it reimbursed GHS1,145,000 to the Fund.

This was revealed to the Public Accounts Committee by the current CEO of the Fund, Yaw Owusu Berempong, on Wednesday, September 2, 2020.

Duku and two others, Irene Anti Mensah and her husband Frank Aboagye Mensah, chose to refund some of the money during the trial and therefore pleaded guilty under Section 35 of the Courts Act, which allows them to negotiate with the state. restitution. and compensation.

The couple have respectively reimbursed 500,000 GHS of 1.5 million GHS; and 170,000 GHS out of 1.1 million GHS, Berempong said at the hearing.

Berempong said that between 2011 and 2015, 2005 loans were made to some companies and about 90 percent of those loans, “I could say, were processed and disbursed fraudulently.”

He said the current administration of the Fund and its Board of Directors have done a “good job” in finding the lost funds.

“We refer those issued to EOCO and BNI. The total amount involved, in terms of capital, was GHS 14.7 million and interest had been accrued on these loans for an amount of GHS 42 million, ”he said.

“For more than two years, we worked with both EOCO and BNI and the matter finally reached the courts,” he noted.

“Six people were charged: Daniel Duku, former CEO; Richard Lassey, Former Board Member and Former Keta MP (2008-2012); Irene Anti Mensah, personal assistant to the CEO, who later became an investment officer; Frank Aboagye Mensah, who happens to be the husband of Irene Anti Mensah; Charity Opoku, the accountant, and Kofi Sarpong, who was also an investment officer, ”recalled Mr. Berempong.

The CEO continued: “Two months ago, three of the six: Daniel Duku, Irene Anti Mensah and the husband, Frank Aboagye Mensah, decided to submit to Section 35 of the Law on Courts, Law 459, which I understand allows them to negotiate a settlement and compensation with the attorney general and then plead guilty in court and the only thing that can be avoided under Section 35 is custody.

“So all three pleaded guilty. Daniel Duku has been asked to pay GHS 15 million to Venture Capital, Irene Anti Mensah – GHS 1.5 million; Frank Aboagye Mensah: 1.1 million GHS; all three amount to 17.69 million GHS, ”he said.

The three, he said, were given three months to reimburse the money, noting that if they did not do so, he would force the prosecutor to take them back to court and “they will be sentenced because they have already pleaded guilty.”

The other three suspects, the executive director noted, “will appear in court in October 2020.”

“And as I speak, Daniel Duku has already paid or reimbursed GHS1,145,000 to Venture Capital, Irene Anti Mensah has reimbursed GHS500,000 of GHS1.5 million and then Frank Aboagye Mensah has reimbursed GHS170,000 of GHS1 .1 million” .

“And so, for the last two months, the total amount that we’ve received is GHS1,805,000.”