MTN Ready To Disburse GHC12.3m To Victims Of SBI “Ponzi Scheme”

MTN Ghana has announced that it has finalized modalities to disburse GH¢12.288 million to victims of Savannah Brokerage Investment(SBI) limited.

A press release by the telecoms giant said the decision was taken after management met with the representatives of the victims of the “Ponzi scheme”, the Ghana Police and the Bank of Ghana.

According MTN, the police has since initiated a process to secure a court order to unfreeze the wallets to facilitate the disbursement.

Out of the money to be disbursed, GH¢12.096 million remains the actual amount frozen by the Mobile Money limited with GH¢192,297 million being the interest generated over the period.

MTN after the meeting with the stakeholders also set up a guide on how to disburse the funds. This includes;

1. Only those who invested and have not received any payments qualify for refund.
2. Those who invested and got part of their principal paid to them also qualify.
3. All those who invested and got their contributions back in full along with those who got their contributions and more do not qualify for the refund.
4. The refund will be disbursed proportionally based on each person’s contribution made as against the total investment.
5. Contributors who have not received part of their investment before the freeze will have that amount deducted from their total expected and the difference paid to them. This is to ensure equitable distribution of funds.
6. Those who invested from their own mobile money wallets will not be required to provide any information because all related information are available.
7. However, those who visited various MTN mobile money Agent or merchant requesting for investment to be made on their behalf must provide at least the three mandatory items for identification before refund would be made. They are Name of Agent/Branch (Mandatory), Reference Number/ Username (Mandatory), Amount (mandatory), Transaction ID and Date.
8. The modalities shall be made public for 5 working days after which the disbursements will commence, barring any development within the 5 working days and upon receipt of the court order to proceed with the disbursements.
9. Mobile Money Limited will send an activity report to the Regular upon completion of the disbursement exercise.

MTN uncovered the suspected Ponzi scheme a few months ago and took steps to safeguard the interest of its customers by reporting the case to the Regulator and the Police. MTN was then authorized to freeze the wallet for investigations to be conducted.