Honorary Vice-President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has challenged the Attorney General’s assertion that the state has recovered 60% of Unibank’s liabilities, insisting the actual figure is closer to 10.6%.
In a detailed post on his social media page on Monday, July 28, Mr. Simons described the government’s recovery claim as “financially misconceived,” arguing that the public is being misled.
According to him, the government initially pegged Ghana’s financial exposure in the collapsed bank at GH¢5.7 billion, but that figure has since been controversially revised to GH¢3.3 billion.
Out of the revised amount, he noted that GH¢800 million is expected through forfeited properties, while GH¢1.2 billion is to be recovered from Unibank’s debtors.
Mr. Simons contends that these amounts fall woefully short of the real financial loss to the state.
“If we use market exchange rates, the government has recovered only $160 million of a liability that may well exceed $1.5 billion,” he stated. “That is barely 10.6% of the total losses to Ghana’s welfare!”
He added that even the liabilities admitted by Unibank’s owners—amounting to over $1 billion—remain unmatched by the government’s current recovery figures.
Mr. Simons also criticised the Bank of Ghana and the appointed Receiver for their continued silence, despite being central actors in the banking sector clean-up.
“In any serious country, the press conference of the AG today would be the beginning, not the end, of the national debate,” he asserted.
Ernest Arhinful
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