PricewaterhouseCoopers has backed the calls by the Bank of Ghana boss Dr. Ernest Addison for the Chief Justice to establish special courts to deal with issues arising from the central bank’s resolution of some failed banks.
The central bank governor has lamented that some directors among others of some of the erstwhile banks have resorted to the legal system to frustrate the receivership process in its bid to retrieve locked-up assets.
Speaking at the launch of the 2019 PwC Banking Survey, Vish Ashiagbor who is a joint receiver for the collapsed UT and Capital banks argued that the receivership process could have worked at a faster pace if there was a dedicated court to deal with fallouts from the process.
“Where we are now we have largely dealt with the operational aspects of the receivership process such as dealing with branches, employees, with movable assets etc.
We are focused now firmly on recoveries. All the banks’ assets are tied up in loans and advances. To go into enforcement, you have to go through a legal process and that process takes time and some investments. We are focused on that and making progress but it is not as far as we will like.
If indeed we did have specialised courts, we think we will be able to make bigger process in terms of getting some realisations.
And ultimately coming to some conclusions as to whether some of the individuals and shareholders should be accountable for some of the transactions that took place. In summary, yes we support the call for specialised courts,” said Mr. Ashiagbor who is also the PwC Senior Country Partner.