North Tongu Member of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has published documents alleging that the land on which the new Bank of Ghana (BoG) head office is being constructed is the subject of a long litigation battle.
The lawmaker, who has so far published a series of exposés on the BoG building claims among others that, the land had earlier been valued at about GH¢91 million and that the BoG had offered to pay the owners GH¢100 million for the parcel at a point.
The apex bank cooled off its interest in the said land and subsequently, the state through an Executive Instrument (E.I) in 2020 moved in to trigger a compulsory acquisition clause in lieu of compensation.
That compensation he disclosed had not been paid and that the amount along with other interests had come up to the 400 million cedis figure according to experts.
The land, he noted originally belonged to State Insurance Company, but had been attached in court papers after a company ITALCONSTRUCT INTERNATIONAL LIMITED had taken guarantees from SIC for a facility from IVORY FINANCE COMPANY but defaulted hence court action by the finance compnay.
The loan was contracted in 2013 and the consent judgment handed down in 2014.
According to Ablakwa, in August 2019, the Bank of Ghana being fully aware of the ongoing litigation and the consent judgement approached both managements of SIC and IVORY FINANCE and made an offer of GHS100million to both entities so BoG could purchase the land for their head office project.
“Interestingly, BoG did not pursue their offer and rather placed IVORY FINANCE under receivership,” following which the E.I. of October 2020 was issued, and even with that due compensation, according to his sources, had yet to be paid.
“Based on the Consent Judgement which has not been set aside, the interest and penalties which have accrued and factoring inflation — experts confirm that a combined compensation will not be less than a staggering GHS400million,” his post of September 5, 2023 read in part.
