I’ve Done Nothing Wrong In UT Bank Loan Debacle

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Efutu, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, has denied ever executing any loan facility on behalf of Excel Courier as a majority shareholder while holding office in Parliament.

In a statement posted on his face book wall, the Parliamentarian said: “The description that my being [a] politically exposed person was overlooked in the execution of a so-called 30 million loan facility, can, at best, be imaginary. I was never the majority shareholder of Excel, neither am I, currently, a shareholder and a director of Excel Courier Ghana limited.”

The following is the full statement.
It has come to my attention that the malicious publication by myjoyonline.com , which was also carried by Joy FM in its top story news item, has gone viral on social media. Regrettably, Joy FM failed to cross check from me for my side of the story, in spite of many of 'her' officers, as well as officers of the Multimedia Group, having access to my telephone numbers.

As a matter of fact, it is no crime for a company to owe a bank. Neither is it a crime for a company to default in its loan repayment obligation, since default could be occasioned by several factors. The summary of what I just read from the factually inaccurate and malicious publication by myjoyonline.com is to the effect that, in my capacity as a politician, a company I have a majority shares (EXCEL COURIER GHANA LIMITED), procured a loan of 30 million, and same was secured with just a one million Ghana cedis worth of assets.

As a general business rule, there is nothing irregular, should an individual or a company secure a loan with a security/collateral far less in value to the amount procured as a loan from the financial institution.

Having given the above background, let me proceed and state as follows:

Excel Courier Ghana Limited and UT Financial Services entered into a collateral management business relationship as far back as December 20, 2004, in respect of bauxite operations at “Awaso”. The outstanding payment obligation due UT Logistics, and not UT BANK, is a little over 4.1 million Ghana Cedis. The inability of Excel Courier to meet this outstanding obligation within the period was as a result of Ghana Bauxite's refusal to honour outstanding invoices in excess of US$5.5 million, under the guise of a so-called tax exemption from Ministry of Finance dated 1995, which exemption was never disclosed to Excel and had no Parliamentary approval.

The disturbing situation did not only affect the operations with UT Logistics, but other financial institutions Excel dealt with. Excel Courier vigorously pursued this matter at the High Court Commercial Division in 2014, whereupon a ruling was made to the effect that it was only [the] Ghana Revenue Authority that had the CAPACITY to pursue the said claims. Therefore, I, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, never executed any loan facility on behalf of Excel as a majority shareholder, while holding office as a Member of Parliament.

The description that my being [a] politically-exposed person was overlooked in the execution of a so-called 30 million loan facility, can at best be imaginary. I was never the majority shareholder of Excel, neither am I currently a shareholder and a Director of Excel Courier Ghana Limited.

Any purported report by [the] Bank of Ghana, the official liquidator, or any person, group of persons, legal entity or an administrator appointed for the purpose of looking into the affairs of UT BANK, claiming that I have executed a 30 million loan with 1million cedi collateral, may, in the least, be misleading the public with an ulterior motive. Suffice to add that a letter in 2015 for a reconciliation of Excel Courier's account status never saw a conclusion, as the officer in charge (Mr. Charles Tabi) had not made available reliable information for his colleague who succeeded his office to proceed. I expect Joy FM and all other media houses, including officials currently engaged on matters related to the defunct UT BANK, to contact Excel Courier Ghana Limited for verification before same is published. For the avoidance of doubt, the entire publication by myjoyonline.com , from it so called exclusive source, is factually inaccurate, false, insinuative and malicious. The net effect of this story is defamatory of my person, and I, accordingly, demand, which I hereby do, a retraction of same forthwith on all multimedia platforms and other media houses that repeated the same publication on their news portals. I reserve my rights to pursue an appropriate remedy in court, should Multimedia ignore my concerns.