Banking Consultant, Nana Otuo Acheampong has clarified that the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II could not have been engaged in any act of money laundering considering the failure of any swift action over the allegation leveled against him.
He explains that even though the deposits ordered by the traditional leader triggered a suspicion of money laundering, the inability of a subsequent investigation to conclude same defeats the arguments.
A UK-based the Telegraph’s publication last week, said one Mark Arthur had alleged the Asantehene tasked him to deposit 350 thousand pounds into an account; under circumstances analysts have described as money laundering.
Mr. Mark Arthur, who has lost his job at the Ghana International Bank, is contesting his dismissal at a Tribunal in the UK.
The Tribunal has since deferred judgement to the next four weeks.
But reacting to the issue, Nana Otuo Acheampong maintained that the allegations against the traditional leader could not have been the case.
“The documents I have in my possession doesn’t testify to that; what it says is that [Mark Arthur] got the money and enquired from the King the source and he was told and went straight ahead to deposit it in the account. But then what he failed was to decide whether that was according to the Know Your Customer (KYC) rules or out of the ordinary or it was normal; but because the system was triggered, it showed that it was out of sink and that is why it was flagged up,” he explained.
Nana Otuo also the Executive Director of the Osei Tutu II Centre for Executive Education and Research further argued that the laws would have been triggered long in the matter had there been any grounds of truth in the case against the King.
“Under the UK anti-money laundering law, once the system has flagged a transaction, a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) would have to be filed and this was done. But subsequently nothing was found… If it was a money laundering issue, when they filed the SAR, something would have happened but up till date, nothing has happened.”
Meanwhile the Ghana International Bank has clarified that an ongoing tribunal hearing that has captured the public’s attention, is not about whether the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II engaged in money laundering or not.
There is not even any suggestion of money laundering allegations against the Asantehene, the Ghana International Bank said.
A statement from the UK-based bank asserted that, the ongoing litigation between the bank and a former Executive Director, Mark Arthur, concerned breaches of the Bank’s internal policies and UK laws.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
