Registrar General’s Department warns DKM customers against fraudsters

The Registrar General’s Department has warned the public of fraudsters who may take advantage of the liquidation of DKM Diamond Microfinance assets to dupe unsuspecting customers.

In a statement copied to Citi Business News,  the Registrar General’s Department, which is the Official Liquidator (OL),  cautioned the general public and depositor of DKM that it has not authorised anybody to collect monies from depositors to process their claims.

It further stated that “anybody who gives money/monies to any such persons do so at their own risk”.

Speaking in an interview with Citi Business News the Acting Registrar at the Registrar-General’s Department Jemima Oware called on the general public to report anybody claiming to be collecting monies to facilitate a refund to the police.

“Nobody has appointed anyone to go around collecting money to process their claims on their behalf. We have not assigned anyone to on behalf of the official liquidator to collect claims,” she said, adding that “the public should report to the police if anyone comes demanding that they should pay them to allow them process their claims.”

Mrs. Oware warned that the department will apply all the legal processes available to deal with such fraudsters if they are apprehended.

According to her, the department had received many calls concerning such incidents especially in Sunyani.

Information gathered by Citi Business News  indicates that the OL has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Ghana Ltd (PwC), and De-Georges Law Consult (Legal Advisors) as Financial and Legal Consultants under Section 10 of the Act.

Below is the full statement

DKM DIAMOND MICROFINANCE LIMITED

(IN OFFICIAL LIQUIDATION)

PRESS RELEASE

Background

Pursuant to the revocation on 29 February 2016 of the operating licence of DKM Diamond Microfinance Limited (“In Official Liquidation”) (“DKM”) by the Bank of Ghana (“BoG”) following the inability of the company to fulfil its obligations towards depositors and creditors, the Central Bank in accordance with Section 68(1) of the Banking Act, 2004 (Act 673) appointed the Registrar-General as the Official Liquidator (“OL”) for the purposes of winding up the affairs of DKM.

The OL in accordance with Section 7 of the Bodies Corporate (Official Liquidations) Act, 1963 (Act 180) placed DKM in Official Liquidation on 29 March 2016, and is conducting the official liquidation of the company in accordance with the provisions of Act 180.

• To assist her in the orderly winding up of DKM, the OL has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Ghana Ltd (PwC), and De-Georges Law Consult (Legal advisors) as her Financial and Legal Consultants under Section 10 of the Act.
• The main objectives of the liquidation are three-fold, namely;

1. To establish the true financial position of DKM through the conduct of a forensic audit,
2. To maximise asset realisations for the benefit of Creditors including mainly Depositors, and

• Distribute realisations in accordance with the relevant provisions of Act 180, to satisfy the indebtedness of the company to its body of creditors to the extent possible.

As a result of a paucity of records, it is not clear the true state of affairs of DKM as at the date of liquidation. As per the Balance Sheet of the Special Audit Report covering the period October 25, 2013 to May 11, 2015, the company had a Net Liability position of negative                           GH¢21,030,142.00, making it insolvent and  thereby unable to fully settle its obligations to its creditors, whose status are mainly Preferential and Unsecured. Operating a ten branch network in the Brong Ahafo, Upper East and Upper West regions of the country, the assets of the company comprise landed properties, motor vehicles and chattel assets.

Work done

To secure the books and records of the company, as well as assuming control over the company’s assets, on commencement of the liquidation, the OL despatched teams of officers to all the branches of DKM in these regions to take custody over these resources of the company, in order to determine the current state of affairs of DKM and to critically determine the depositor base of the company.

Currently, whereas most of the books and records of the company cannot be found and therefore retrieved, owing to the manner the offices of the company were shut down, (forced entry and seizure by some creditors), we noted that most of the assets of the company are the subject of legal attachments and are therefore in the custody of either the court or some creditors of DKM.

We are making every effort to trace these records and to recover properties owned by the company. Accordingly we are pursuing the following key steps:

• Locating the electronic versions of the books and records of the company and applying electronic means to retrieve data, including the application of Forensic Technology Solutions (“FTS”) tools to image and reconstruct data.
• Engaging with the creditors and lawyers of these creditors, as well as the courts to wrestle company assets and realise them for the benefit of the body of creditors.

We are also independently reconstructing the depositor base of the company following several adverts we placed in the national dailies requesting creditors, including depositors to submit their claims in the liquidation for validation and acceptance as appropriate. Currently we have collated approximately 63,000 depositor claims which will be thoroughly examined and validated, following our reconstruction of the records of the company.

Typically in liquidation, the First Creditors meeting is held within six weeks of commencement of liquidation or any other time the OL may deem necessary for the event to be held. In the case of DKM however, as disclosed above, the lack of records at the company has made it almost impossible for The First Creditors meeting to be held, not knowing who the potential creditors of the company are.

As we progress the liquidation, we intend to undertake the following key activities in the next four weeks:

Critical Next Steps

• Access depositor data stored on the DKM’s servers.
• Complete the compilation of data on depositors from documentation retrieved from the DKM’s branches.
• Complete the collation and analysis of depositor claims.
• Resolve issues related to encumbrances on the DKM’s assets and recover assets.
• Commence the validation of depositor claims.
• Hold First Creditors meeting.

It has also come to the Notice of the OL that there is/are some unscrupulous person/s going round in the Sunyani metropolis portraying themselves as agents of the OL collecting monies from Depositors ostensibly to process their claims for them with us.

The OL wishes to inform the General Public and Depositors of DKM that the OL has not authorized anybody to collect monies from depositors to process their claims. Anybody who gives money/monies to any such person/s do so at their own risk.

The OL wishes to assure all stakeholders of DKM that the liquidation process is ongoing and is on course. We will issue Press Releases as and when it is necessary to do so to inform Depositors about the status of the Liquidation.

SIGNED

JEMIMA OWARE(MRS)

OFFICIAL LIQUIDATOR

DKM  DIAMOND MICROFINANCE LIMITED

(IN OFFICIAL LIQUIDATION)

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By: Norvan Acquah – Hayford/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana