Ghanaian businessman and co-founder of the defunct UT Bank Kofi Amoabeng has come out to make a very shocking revelation about how Ken ofori Atta came to his collapsed bank for ¢5M .
According to Kofi Amoabeng in his book titled “the UT story: Humble Beginnings,” Kofi revealed that ken Ofori came to him and pleaded for an amount of $5 million to keep his business afloat.
He further went ahead to add that even tho ken’s bank didn’t meet the requirement that was needed before he could be given the loan he decide to give him the help he needed due to the friendship that existed between them.
Kofi Amoabeng further revealed that the bank management vehemently opposed the loan but she stood her ground and allowed for the loan to be given to him.
“Ken and his partner, Keli Gadzekpo, came to me bearing their shares in Enterprise Insurance as collateral for a loan of about ¢5 million.
“At the time, the cedi had undergone redenomination and had been rebranded as ‘new Ghana cedi’. The ¢5 million he requested, therefore, was equivalent to about $5 million,” he said.
“We were very good friends so I felt obliged, albeit not without conducting the necessary due diligence. It was curious though that they did not prefer the banks where they would have secured the loan at a much lower annual interest rate as compared to our significantly higher monthly compounded interest rates.
“Be that as it may after I perused their documents. I felt it was acceptable to grant the loan. The only snag, and a significant one at that, was that the amount exceeded the Single Obligor Limit. Ideally, I should have declined their request there and then. Instead, I decided to bail them out,” he said.
“Unfortunately, Ken failed to honour his end of the bargain. He defaulted badly on the repayment schedule. The situation was so bad that they could only service the interest on the loan,” he revealed.
“I became concerned because I had assured the board I knew Ken very well and I was convinced beyond doubt that he would honour his word. Thus I had egg on my face, especially as my partner had expressly stated his disapproval of the request,” he said.
