The Receiver of the now-defunct Beige Bank, Nii Amanor Dodoo, has written to the Ashanti, Accra and Western Regional Police Commands to help him recover over 50 cars belonging to the collapsed bank’s Kumasi, Accra and Takoradi offices, which are now in receivership.
According to Mr Dodoo, the cars have either been sold or transferred into other people’s names at unknown locations on the instructions of the former CEO of The Beige Bank, Mr Mike Nyinaku.
According to documents circulate in the media, the cars being chased include Nissan Qashqais, Nissan Micras, 13 Nissan Pickups, bullion vans, a Mitsubishi Pajero, a Toyota Hilux, Toyota Fortuner, Toyota Landcruiser, Hyundai Elantras, Hyundai Sonata, Hyundai Tucson, Hyundai Santa Fe, Toyota Highlander, Mazda Tribute, Toyota Avensis, Kia Picanto, Ford Bullion Van, Mitsubishi Fuso, Iveco buses, 9 Man tipper trucks, Hyundai Express Aero Hi Class bus, three Man trailers, Benz tipper truck, Iveco tipper truck, and unserviceable Grader.
The letter, which was dated 21 March 2019, was copied to the SWAT Commanders, the Regional Crime Commanders, the Police Headquarters and the Office of National Security.
It said: “Pursuant to Section 123 (1) of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act 2016 (Act 930), the Bank of Ghana (BoG) revoked the operating licence of The Beige Bank Limited with effect from Wednesday, 11 August 2018 and placed the bank in receivership.
“Accordingly, pursuant to Section 123 (2) of Act 930, the BoG appointed Nii Amanor Dodoo as Receiver for the purposes of winding down the affairs of the bank.
“Some vehicles belonging to The Beige Bank Limited (now in receivership) are held at Kwadaso in Kumasi under the authority of Mike Nyinaku, the former CEO of the bank. Information reaching me indicates that some of the vehicles are either being sold or transferred to unknown destinations by Mike Nyinaku without recourse to me.
“In order to secure the premises where these vehicles are currently held in an attempt to avoid further tampering by the said person, as mandated by Section 129 (4) of Act 930, I will like to officially request the escort of the police to provide my team with the necessary security during the course of an exercise that involves taking inventory of the assets at the premises, securing the premises with new locks and placing a private security personnel to guard the premises going forward”, the letter said.
According to the letter, the details of persons who were to be involved in the exercise from the Receiver’s office are Julius Ayivor, Eric Owusu, Esther Mensah Owusua.
“I may also require your assistance in retrieving any of the vehicles that have been moved out of the premises since my appointment as and when they are traced. Do not hesitate to contact me if you require further qualification”, the Receiver’s letter noted.
Mr Nyinaku, together with 12 of his subsidiary companies, are expected to cough up over GHS1.3 billion to the Receiver per a recent suit filed against them.
Mr Dodoo dragged Mr Nyinaku and the 12 subsidiaries, including Legacy Pension Trust Ltd, The Beige Group Ltd, BBS Logistics and Beige Village to court, insisting that the defunct bank transferred several millions of Ghana cedis to the said companies ranging between GHS1 million and over GHS100 million.
The Receiver is, among other things, praying the court to order Nyinaku and his subsidiaries to refund a total of GHS1, 363,851,590.35, including interest.
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The writ has the Receiver and The Beige Bank as plaintiffs and Mr Nyinaku and his other 12 companies as defendants.
“A declaration that the various transactions described in the statement of claim between the 2nd plaintiff and defendants are unlawful. An order for the 1st defendant to account and refund to plaintiffs for any profits resulting from property transactions with or through the 12th defendant, and for a further order rescinding all the transactions entered between 2nd plaintiff and defendants,” Amanor Dodoo added in the writ.
The Receiver also wants “orders of recovery jointly and severally against the defendants” the sum total of GHS1.3 billion.
He also wants to take custody of assets “identified in this matter to have been acquired with funds taken from the 2nd plaintiff and traced to be within the possession or control of any of the defendants or any other persons.”
Some of the assets he listed included the Beige Village, residential properties at Trasacco, as well as various vehicles of the said companies.
The Receiver also wants to hold, in trust for the defunct Beige bank, “all property, plant and equipment, bank accounts, investments and any other assets belonging to 1st to 13th defendants as at 1st August 2018.”
“An order directing the defendants to return and/or transfer to plaintiffs all the assets identified to have been acquired with the funds taken from 2nd plaintiff, proceeds from the sale of any assets, or any new substituted assets.”
He is also seeking an order of “perpetual injunction restraining all the defendants from selling, disposing off and/or dealing with the assets identified by plaintiffs and any other assets acquired with funds obtained from 2nd plaintiff and an order directing the defendants to account to plaintiff all advantages, benefits, gains and profits, derived or obtained from or through any transaction with 2nd plaintiff’s funds.”
The Beige Bank was said to have obtained a banking licence falsely.
An inventory asset and property report filed by the Receiver to the Bank of Ghana revealed that The Beige Bank had total assets of GHS494 million.
Out of the figure, GHS282 million, representing 57% were loans and securities.
According to the report, the bank gave an amount of GHS274 million, constituting 31% of the loans to related parties.
The Receiver said Beige bank did not adhere to credit administration policies and had inadequacies in recovery efforts.
