The Gaming Commission of Ghana has officially sought legal advice from the Attorney General’s (AG) Department over its inability to retrieve a GHS5.1 million investment made with SIC Financial Services Limited (SIC-FSL) in 2019.
The investment, which included both principal and accrued interest, has remained unrecovered for years, prompting concern from auditors and key stakeholders.
According to the Acting Gaming Commissioner, Emmanuel Siisi Quainoo, several attempts have been made to retrieve the funds, but all efforts have so far proven unsuccessful.
“Before the infraction was even brought to my notice, I wrote to SIC-FSL demanding payment for the investment. They responded, saying that their investments had been escrowed at the Ministry of Finance (MoF), and asked for my assistance in retrieving it,” Quainoo said during an appearance before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday, September 30.
He explained that despite multiple written correspondences and meetings with the Commission’s audit committee, there has been little progress.
“I have written to them two times. I have also met with the audit committee of the Gaming Commission, telling them that the amount is very significant and we need to recover it for other purposes of the Commission,” he added.
Quainoo noted that SIC-FSL attributed their inability to repay the funds to the aftershocks of Ghana’s financial sector clean-up, which saw the collapse of several banks and financial institutions. According to him, SIC-FSL claimed they had appealed to the Ministry of Finance to release the escrowed funds but had received no response.
In response to the impasse, Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, said his ministry advised the Commission to seek legal direction from the Attorney General.
“What I did was say, let’s write to the AG to advise—based on this, what should we do? Because it is a government institution. As we know, many citizens suffered similar fates due to the collapse of banks and have not retrieved their money. It’s not a situation with a straightforward answer,” the Minister told PAC.
PAC Chair, Abena Osei-Asare, welcomed the step, but pointed out that SIC-FSL’s challenges may have preceded the banking sector crisis.
“Minister, I am glad that you said you’ve written to the AG. The AG will respond, but as far as I know, SIC-FSL was in a different situation altogether before the banking issues started,” she noted.
Auditors confirmed that they have seen correspondences between the Gaming Commission and SIC-FSL, but stressed the urgency of recovering the funds in line with financial accountability standards.
The Attorney General’s advice is expected to provide a legal pathway for the Commission to recover the locked-up funds or take further action if necessary.
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