The collapse of the Capital and UT Banks last year threw the searchlight on the volatility or otherwise of the country`s local banks.
Worse was to follow this year when the Bank of Ghana recently merged five local banks for their weak financial outlay.
But are there more to follow? General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church, Pastor Mensah Otabil has been in the news for his alleged complicity in the collapse of one of the banks.
He has issued a statement denying culpability. But financial analysts think, being the Board Chair, he cannot totally absolve himself from the collapse of Capital Bank.
“Being executive member or a non-executive member does not play a role here. The board takes decision for the firm and before they take decisions, they study the books of the firm,” Senior Lecturer at the Finance Department of the University of Ghana Business School, Dr. Lord Mensah said in an interview with GBC’s Radio Ghana.
Meanwhile, the Board Chairman of the now defunct Capital Bank, Pastor Mensa Otabil, has broken his silence on his role in the collapse of the bank.
Capital bank was declared insolvent exactly a year ago and has since been taken over by Ghana Commercial Bank.
Pastor Otabil who is also the Founder and General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church has come under public criticism especially on social media for his role in the current turbulence in the banking sector. But, in a statement, Pastor Otabil says he played no role in the day to day running of the bank.
He explained that during his non-executive role as a Board Chairman, some decisions that were made turned out well, while some did not as had been anticipated.
He said everything was done with the best of intentions and the interest of stakeholders in mind.
Since the takeover of the bank, various mandated state institutions have been investigating and working to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of what happened, why it happened and who was responsible for what.
Pastor Otabil said he has been invited by EOCO and has submitted himself to their processes and answered all their questions faithfully.
He says his foremost concern, as has been the case over the past year, is for the well-being of those who lost their jobs and those who may have been adversely affected in any way as a result of these developments.
