The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has said the Managing Director of HFC Bank, Asare Akuffo had no authorization from shareholders to cancel an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) it has requisitioned.
[contextly_sidebar id=”iPivfvJ4psQ0rnOdqk8CGJ6nGO8dWRog”]HFC bank in a statement signed by its MD, Asare Akuffo on January 16 said the EGM has been cancelled because two shareholders had gone to court to seek an interlocutory injunction against the meeting.
But in an exclusive interview with Citi Business News, the General Manager and General Counsel for SSNIT, Peter Hayibor said there was no consultation prior to the release of the statement.
“It wasn’t authorized because when the EGM was about to held, some people went to the court to file an injunction to stop the meeting and then without any consultation or reference to the requisitioning of the meeting thus SSNIT or even to consult an emergency meeting between the board of the company direction they quickly issued a notice cancelling by Friday,’’ he explained.
This follows a court order directing HFC Bank to reschedule its Extraordinary General Meeting to another date to allow for the hearing of the interlocutory injunction which has been scheduled for Friday.
According to him, the writ was filed on January 14, SSNIT was not served but rather got wind of it on January 15 but on January 16, HFC had already issued a notice cancelling the EGM.
The Counsel for SSNIT described the actions of HFC Bank as very surprising, adding that it was for that reason that they [SSNIT] applied to the judicial service for the date fixed to hear the motion to be brought forward and that was granted and the Registrar alerted all the parties to appear on Monday 19 January.
The EGM was expected to remove two non-executive independent directors of HFC Bank, Muriel Edusei and Francis Koranteng who are representatives of SSNIT.
Counsel for SSNIT has however reiterated that “HFC Bank is not above the law that is why the meeting is adjourned pending the outcome of the injunction application now before the court.”
By: Lorrencia Nkrumah/citifmonline.com/Ghana