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Founder of defunct UT Bank narrates kind gesture by Alhaji Seidu Agongo,

The founder of the defunct UT Bank, Capt. (rtd) Prince Kofi Amoabeng, has revealed that philanthropist and businessman, Alhaji Seidu Agongo, offered to extend his benevolence to him when he appeared in images wearing a strange scruffy beard.

He said while others used those pictures to mock and laugh at him, Alhaji Agongo, also the founder of the collapsed Heritage Bank, contacted him on the quiet to ask if he needed any form of support.

“Mr Agongo, sent me a WhatsApp message that if I am in difficulty, I should send him my account number for him to give me some money,” he said.

The seasoned entrepreneur said although, he did not follow the kind request, the signal by Mr Agongo, touched him in a manner that made him understand that at least, one of his fellow Ghanaians cared about his welfare.

Speaking on the CTV Breakfast Show, on Tuesday and monitored by the Ghanaian Times, he said “this led to him forming a pleasant image about Mr Agongo’s personality although he had not met him before.”

“I have never set eyes on him but at some point in time, after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I started wearing this beard and I took a picture of myself and posted it on social media. That set tongues wagging that ‘I was on the verge of death’, ‘I’ am now a pauper,’ among other negative comments.

The said pictures, which had Capt (rtd) Amoabeng in a baseball-like cap over T-shirt and a scruffy beard, were released around May 2020.

 On the collapse of Heritage Bank, Capt (rtd) Amoageng said, he was pained by the action, given the state of the bank at the time of the collapse

“The Bank of Ghana had issued a license to Heritage Bank and Heritage Bank had not operated for long. So, unlike UT Bank, Heritage Bank had no bad loans or anything and it was a wholly-owned Ghanaian company that we had to nurture to grow,” he said.

“Secondly, the owners of Heritage Bank found it fit to appoint a solid board. I mean, the chairman was Prof. Kwesi Botchwey. When it comes to finance in this country, he is the safest hands you can get; he has seen it all.”

“So, if you have a bank that hasn’t got any baggage, it is fresh and it is gotten a board headed by Kwesi Botchwey, then it means its closure was a worse decision than UT Bank,” Capt (rtd) Amoabeng said.

“As for UT Bank, we owed and they could have bailed us out but they decided not to bail us and that is why I mention that Heritage Bank, for example, was collapsed out of sheer wickedness”, he added.

He said the financial sector clean-up exercise set out a dangerous precedent that must be discouraged.

BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS

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