He said Seidu Agongo must take legal action to ensure that right things are done to take ownership of his bank.
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Agongo must sue Bank of Ghana for collapsing Heritage Bank - Prof. Gatsi
A Senior lecturer at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), and Economist, Prof. John Gatsi, has advised majority shareholder of the now-defunct Heritage Bank Limited, Seidu Agongo, to sue the Bank of Ghana for revoking the bank's licence.
Heritage Bank Ghana
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Earlier this month, the BoG revoked the licence of Heritage Bank. The governor of the Central Bank Dr Ernest Addison, said this was because the original source of finance for the bank is currently a basis of criminal prosecution in court.
He added that Seidu Agongo was not a "fit and proper person" to be significant shareholder of HBL.
In a statement, Agongo, however, said the BoG's decision is pre-judged one which should not have happened.
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He added: "The determination that I am not a fit and proper person to be a significant shareholder of HBL because the Central Bank suspects the funds are derived from illicit or suspicious contracts with the Cocobod is not only calculated to pre-judge the outcome of the criminal proceedings but also violative of the principle of presumption of innocence to which every individual is entitled. Since when has suspicion become a substitute for credible evidence?"
He insisted that in establishing HBL "I engaged in no underhand dealings and, in fact, as the Central Bank itself had attested on many occasions, HBL was a very well governed Ghanaian bank which remained solvent till the very end."
But Professor Gatsi said: "It is part of his rights as a citizen and as a shareholder who is protected by various constitutional provisions in Article 18, Article 19 and Article 20 of the Constitution. Some of these Articles talk about a person being innocent in any criminal proceeding until he is proven guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction [but] that was not done."
In an interview on Accra-based, he said Agongo must "trigger a legal action so that the right things are done.
"We cannot live in a country where people use regulatory power to undermine the provisions of the constitution."
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