Receiver and auctioneers urged to ensure transparency in public sale of vehicles

The Ghana Association of Savings and Loans Companies has urged authorities in charge of the ongoing auctioning of confiscated vehicles owned by defunct microfinance institutions, savings and loans companies and finance houses, to honour their promise of ensuring transparency.

The call comes after auctioneers and representatives of the Receiver of the collapsed institutions, Eric Nana Nipah, begun the selling of 150 cars as part of efforts to accrue enough money to pay off depositors.

The exercise is happening months after the Bank of Ghana revoked the licences of some 23 savings and loans companies and finance houses, as well as 347 microfinance institutions.

The revocation of the licences according to the Central Bank became necessary because they were insolvent even after they had been given a reasonable period for recapitalisation.

Commenting on the on-going auctioning process, Executive Secretary of the Ghana Association of Savings and Loans Companies, Tweneboah Kodua Boakye, called on the stakeholders in the exercise to educate the participating public to ensure that the process is smooth and transparent.

“Let us all help in educating the public, the media has a role, and the receiver has a role as well as the auctioneers. Let’s help educate the public to understand the process so that everybody is clear in his/her mind as to what needs to be done and how it should be done. We also want to see the transparency that the receivers and auctioneers have promised us,” he said.

He also admonished the general public to help in identifying more assets of the collapsed institutions to help the receiver generate more funds to settle depositors.

“We believe that the outcome of this auctioning is going to help speed up the process of paying every depositor, and we have seen the commitment from the regulators, commitment from the receivers and the commitment from the government. And of course; if the public knows of any property of any of the defunct institutions hidden somewhere, it is our collective responsibility as citizens to all offer information and ensure that these properties are brought into the loop,” he said.

A representative of the receiver, Philomina Kuzoe, in an interview with Citi Business News said they were compelled to take this action to facilitate the process.

“When the two hours elapses and the person who won the bid hasn’t paid, then we re-auction the car in question. This process is expected to last for five days; it will be running till Friday [February, 7, 2020], and then the other batch we will announce as and when we gather other assets,” she emphasised.