A microfinance company based in the Western Region, Boin Microfinance Limited, has cited the Receiver, Eric Nana Nipah, for abuse of power and disregard for the law as the company’s assets are being confiscated despite court order stopping it from doing so.
According to management of the company, the Accra Human Rights Court has issued a certiorari order restraining the BoG and its agents from tampering with the company’s assets; but that has not been heeded, as the receiver has gone ahead to take charge of the microfinance’s accounts containing about GH¢8.4million and real and active loans of about GH¢5.5million.
And again, the company further states that the Bank of Ghana has superimposed the records of another microfinance company and used such records as the basis to declare Boin Microfinance Ltd. insolvent on May 31, 2019.
A petition sighted by the B&FT dated July 14, 2020 and signed by Joseph Apor Adjei and Dr. Seth Dankyi Boateng – Shareholder and Board Member of Boin Microfinance Limited, cautioned both BoG and the Receiver to respect the orders of the court by staying away from the company’s assets until ruling on the matter is made. Any further action taken by the BoG or Receiver to touch assets of the company, management says, will be firmly resisted. Below is the petition.
“We write as Shareholders and Directors of Boin Microfinance Ltd. to draw your attention to the fact that the ORDER of CERTIORARI and INTER-LOCUTORY INJUNCTION ORDER that the Human Rights Court, Accra, served you on our behalf stops you and all your agents from touching the assets of Boin Microfinance Ltd. until the matter is determined by the court.
“Be informed that from the date of this notice until the matter is determined by the Court, any deliberate attempt by your agents to dissipate further the assets of Boin Microfinance Ltd. will be resisted. We have reached this conclusion because we have observed with surprise that your outfit has no interest in resolving the matter, but is bent on seizing our assets without recourse to the very law that you claim to be working with.
“As law-abiding citizens of Ghana, even though the company since its establishment has never had any discussion on insolvency with the regulator (Bank of Ghana) and did not receive any notice on revocation of its licence and take-over, the Board directed Management to hand-over peacefully to the staff of Bank of Ghana and its agent when they secretly appeared at its various branches on the 31st May, 2019 to seize the company.
“The shareholders and directors brought petitions to your office that Boin Microfinance Ltd. is not insolvent and that a report on an onsite inspection conducted by your outfit from 18th to 20th December 2018, which was received on the 4th June 2019 – at which time you had already revoked the company’s licence, revealed that you either mistakenly or deliberately superimposed another company’s report on Boin Microfinance Ltd.; based on which you revoked its licence, and this was accordingly brought to your notice in our supplementary petition in order for you to correct the anomaly and reverse your decision.
“When the petition did not yield any results, the shareholders and directors were inclined to think that you might have deliberately revoked the company’s licence and so we went to the High Court, Sekondi, to invoke the powers of the court to seek redress. Indeed, you brought a motion to the court, citing ‘the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930)’, and that we had invoked the powers of the Court wrongly.
“The court, under Her Ladyship Sedina Agbamavah J, respectfully referred the matter for settlement at Arbitration. Again, as law-abiding people, the shareholders and directors went to the Ghana Arbitration Center, Accra, with our claim, and same was served on you. You only entered appearance through your lawyers Frank Davies and Davies, and never submitted any response upon several reminders.
“Realising that you were not ready to submit to Arbitration but only shielding your acts with the law by trampling on our human rights, we terminated the case at the Ghana Arbitration Centre and went to the Human Rights Court, Accra, to seek a Judicial Review of your decision to revoke Boin Microfinance Ltd.’s licence without any reason. The Court has, accordingly, served you with an ORDER of CERTIORARI and, subsequently, INTER-LOCUTORY INJUNCTION ORDER.
“As the case pends in court, with the above orders in place, your agent – Eric Nipah – is taking the assets of Boin Microfinance Ltd. He has already taken charge of the accounts containing about GH¢8.4million and real and active loans of about GH¢5.5 million. Eric Nipah has also taken pick-ups, motorbikes, furniture, computers and other assets from the following branches of the company: namely Dadieso, Essiama, Aiyinase and Tikobo 1 through the use of the police. On the 10th June 2020, we saw a vehicle with the inscription ‘BROLL GHANA LTD. PROPERTY SERVICES’ at the branches of Boin Microfinance Ltd. The presence of Broll Ghana Ltd. at our offices indicates that you have actually planned to collapse our hard-established company without any reason whatsoever.
“As Ghanaians, and for that matter shareholders and directors of Boin Microfinance Ltd., we are law-abiding citizens and know that the police exist for every institution in Ghana and every individual (Ghanaian) and non-Ghanaians living in Ghana. We therefore want to use this medium to inform you that you cannot continue to use the police to intimidate us and infringe on our human rights. From the date of this notice until the matter is determined by the Court, any deliberate attempt by your agents to dissipate further the assets of Boin Microfinance Ltd. will be resisted.
“We are per this same notice informing the Ghana Police Service, Corruption Watch, Centre for Democratic Development, the Metropolitan/Municipal/District Assemblies, Members of Parliament, Speaker of Parliament, His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana, The Chief Justice, The Human Rights Court, Paramount Chiefs and the Media about your attitude and our intended resistance should your agents deliberately continue to dissipate the company’s assets,” it added.
“Also, copies of the certiorari and inter-locutory injunction orders which the Human Right Court served on you and your lawyers are attached for the verification and perusal of each of these authorities.
“This comes with greetings from the Directors and Shareholders of Boin Microfinance Ltd., who are also Ghanaians and equally entitled to the Right of Justice,” the petition stated.
However, the Head of Communications-Bank of Ghana, Esi Hammond, declined to comment on the matter since it still remains in court – a view shared by the receiver when the office was contacted.
