An amount of ¢456,199,000.08 invested by the University of Ghana has been locked in a defunct Fund Management Company; Liberty Asset.
This is contained in the 2020 Auditor-General’s report, which revealed that the University’s College of Health Sciences and School of Medicine and Dentistry invested the money in contravention of the school’s own financial Regulations and Governance.
While the College of Health invested ¢377,003,000, the School of Medicine and Dentistry invested ¢79,196,000.08.
Both investments were made in 2016. The report mentioned that there was no evidence of due diligence report available to continue investment with Liberty Asset in terms of its risk profile.
Liberty Asset was one of the companies the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revoked their licences in 2019.
The University of Ghana’s anomaly, according to the report, was a result of the failure of the College to develop a monitoring mechanism to ensure that all units adhered to the university’s directives.
It added that the situation has the tendency to increase the financial risk exposure of the university. The Auditor-General has recommended to the management of the university to strengthen its investment oversight activities on treasury management and ensure strict adherence to the policy instruction on investments.