The duo pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to engage in the business of dealing in foreign exchange without a license and engaging in the business of dealing in foreign exchange without a license.
The Ashanti Regional Police Command in Kumasi, in collaboration with the Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department (OFISD) and the Security Department of the Bank of Ghana, investigated and apprehended four individuals involved in foreign exchange dealings without the required approval and license from the Bank.
Adam Isak and Alhassan Nuhu from Macowasi Forex Bureau, an unlicensed foreign exchange bureau on the KNUST Campus in Kumasi, are among the other suspects awaiting trial.
During its supervisory duties in Kumasi, the OFISD identified irregularities in the Foreign Exchange (FX) market.
Through effective work and preliminary intelligence gathering, they discovered several illegal/parallel foreign exchange market operators in the Kumasi area.
Section 3. (1) of the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723) states that: a person shall not engage in the business of dealing in foreign exchange without a licence; and Section 29 (1a) said a person who engages in the business of dealing in foreign exchange without a licence commits an offence and is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine of not more than seven hundred penalty units or a term of imprisonment of not more than eighteen months, or both.
Also, Section 1 (i & ii) of the Revised Forex Bureau Regulations, 2003 (BOG NOTICE NO. BG/GOV/SEC/2003/2) states that: No person shall carry on any forex bureau business unless he/she is in possession of a valid forex bureau licence. A person who contravenes or fails to comply shall be guilty of an offence and be dealt with in accordance with the law.