The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Patrick K. Acheampong has been challenged to produce dockets from three police stations, namely, Nima, Ministries and Madina on Unibank to help unravel the mystery surrounding the loss of land title submitted to the bank for loan in 2005.
A customer of the bank, Mr. Robert Tankuna Akeyom said on September 7, 2005 he presented Indenture Number AC 2670/83 and Land Title Certificate number GA/10362 Vol. 35 Folio 126 belonging to Julian Doduo Darko to Unibank for loan, which the bank claims is missing.
He said all attempts he made to get the collateral back have been unsuccessful.
According to him, the three dockets involved criminal cases he lodged at the Nima Police Station about the mysterious disappearance of his collateral security at the bank, the one on which a fake Chronicle journalist who took his picture and was arrested and handed over to the Madina Police station and the one in which he caused the arrest of Mr. Edward Nii Adumuah Nortey, (the custodian of the collateral) by the Ministries Police for having an illegal transaction with Unibank and trying to abscond; after he (Nortey) had sworn an affidavit in support of the bank obtaining a new land title to replace the ‘missing one.’
But one after the other each of the dockets reportedly got missing in a grand design by the IGP to protect the image of the bank.Briefing the press on Monday, October 22, Mr. Akeyom said he petitioned the IGP to investigate the life-threatening circumstances under which the fake Chronicle reporter entered his room unnoticed and took his picture.
He said the IGP referred the matter to the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards, (PIPS) to investigate. Mr Akeyom said on October 30, 2006 when he was called to give his version of the case, PIPS called for the dockets from the three police stations for further action.
“Nima Police Station brought their docket and said they had treated the case as civil, even though I had given the evidence for the case to be treated as criminal. Madina failed to present their docket, saying the ASP in charge had left for peace keeping so the docket could not be found. Ministries came with photocopies of my statement and two documents,” instead of the originals, Akeyom stated.
Mr. Akeyom said when he requested for a copy of the report which the PIPS came out with he was asked to pay and bring the receipt which he did on November 14, 2006, but was not given the report.
He however said when he returned for the report later; he was told that the IGP had asked them to enquire what he needed the report for.
“I said I wanted it because it was a report of a case I had brought for investigation, it was my constitutional right and there was need for my lawyers to advise me on the next steps to take.”
Robert said he asked his lawyers to write to the IGP on December 13, 2006 to produce the report, at which the Director General of the Legal Section of Police, Mr. George Asiamah, replied that the report was not complete and could not be given in that state.
He said he petitioned the office of the Attorney General on January 6, Ministry of Interior-August 21, Office of the President – June 26, Ghana Bankers Association – October 9, Office of Accountability – September 12, all in 2006 and Bank of Ghana on November 16, 2005 on the issue, but systematically all these state institutions, including the President himself, who swore an oath to protect the citizens of this country failed to act.
According to Mr. Akeyom the worse culprit is the Bank of Ghana which has direct supervision of the banks.
He says the failure of the central bank and other state institutions to act in a clear of breach of trust by Unibank amounts to institutional failure or the protection of powerful people by state institutions funded by the taxpayer.
“It is unfortunate that state institutions that are supposed to protect the rights of people seem to be protecting only the powerful”, Akeyom empahsised.
Mr. Akeyom’s last resort, after President Kufuor failed to act is the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), where on February 27, 2007, he lodged a complaint on the conduct of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, the IGP, Unibank, Office of Accountability and Mr. Edward Nii Adumuah Nortey.
He said CHRAJ has not been able to conclude its findings because the institutions mentioned above have not cooperated. “CHRAJ is the only institution where I have been given attention and has shown concern about getting to the bottom of the issue.”
A report signed by Frederick France, Head of the Banking Supervision Department concluded that “there was no evidence that Mr. Akeyom had applied for any loan facility at bank. Consequently, no loan request was available for consideration and therefore no resultant security documentation was scheduled.”
However, in the same report, Mr. France who was elevated to that position by Dr. Kwabena Dufour, former Governor of Bank and current Chairman of Unibank advised Akeyom to accept a new land title which the bank will process at its own cost.
In a fiery response Akeyom’s lawyer, Mr. Raymond Afawubo, said “Mr. Akeyom is not prepared to accept any responsibility which is fraudulent. The Unibank has made its stand clear that there is no such document existing in their custody. It is credible to own it a duty to pursue a course which it has nothing to with. The Land Title Registry has already exposed Unibank. Mr. Edward Adumuah Nortey is already incriminated and branded as an accomplice to the deal.”
Akeyom put the following questions to Unibank:1. If they claim I never brought any land title certificate to them, then how did they get the details of the documents to apply to the Land Title Registry for a duplicate?2. Why in the first instance should they embark on getting the duplicate copy without my concern?3. If the documents were not received by the bank, then why should Ms. Heletsi give me ¢2 million to convince the title owner to consent to the processing of a certified copy of the said land title certificate by the bank?4. Why should they deal with the real owner behind my back when I had entered into a statutory declaration with the latter for his permission to use the documents?5. Why are all dockets which have to do with this case consistently either getting missing or reports of police investigations shrouded in so much secrecy? Are they waiting for me to be killed before they run helter-skelter to find the culprits? The IGP should ensure that the police stations mentioned above do the right thing.
Akeyom recounted that after submitting the original documents to the bank, Charles Kingsley Akuetteh, then Unibank’s Customer Relations Manager, he (Akuetteh) ‘pleaded with him to join Mrs. Kafui Heletsi, a Makola business woman to his collateral to secure a similar loan from the bank, which he refused.
Mr. Akeyom continued that on Friday, September 9, 2005 Akuetteh officially introduced Mrs. Heletsi to him (Akeyom) at the bank’s conference room and that three days after he handed the documents as collateral to Akuetteh, he went to the bank to acquaint himself with the progress of his loan, only for the Customer Relations Manager to tell him that his documents were missing.
“I could not believe my ears how documents could fly out of the bank in less than two days.”
He said he smelt something fishy and reported Akuetteh’s conduct to the General Manager of Unibank, Twumasi A. Sarpong, who is now Deputy Managing Director, who promised that he would do anything, within his powers to retrieve the collateral for him.
The last thing he heard was that he had travelled outside the country. According to him, he confronted the bank’s officials and was told that Akuetteh had resigned from the bank and had left for the United Kingdom to study for a doctorate degree.
Akeyom alleged that his own investigations revealed that the collateral was used to grant Mrs. Heletsi a loan of two billion cedis, but Twumasi Sarpong dismissed this saying the bank does not grant loans on photocopies of collateral securities. “Nobody can use another person’s security without his/her consent”.
In 2005 when Public Agenda did the first report and contacted Twumasi Sarpong to explain the circumstances surrounding Akuetteh’s resignation from the bank and his hurried trip to the UK, he explained that at the time Akeyom lodged his complaint Akuetteh had resigned from the bank and gave the bank one week-notice.
Twumasi Sarpong explained that anytime title deeds are brought to the bank, the legal department issues receipts and since Akeyom cannot produce any receipts to show he deposited the document with the bank his case cannot be taken seriously.
Akeyom alleged that behind the scene, Unibank was trying to reproduce the indenture at the Land Title Registry.
He found that some staff at Land Title Registry had succeeded in duplicating the documents for the bank and were on the verge of delivering them when he petitioned the Principal Recording Officer, (PRO) to stop the deal.
The PRO of the Land Title Registry in a reply dated 12th December, 2005 confirmed that, “we received an application from Unibank Limited requesting for certified true copies of the property of Juliana Doduo Darko with Land certificate GA. 10362.”
The letter assured Akeyom that “in accordance with your instructions contained in the declaration dated 29th September, 2005, we declined the request.”
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