The Management of Takoradi Technical University has dismissed information in some sections of the media that their ghc2.55m investment with Brooks Assets Management Limited has gone down the drain.
According to the university, management is seriously pursuing personalities and properties of Brooks Assets Management Limited in order to retrieve the outstanding funds and that the publications on the said investment are mere romour, falsehood, malicious, story calculated to create public anger, disaffection and tarnish the hard won reputation of Management of the University and must be treated with the contempt it deserves.
The University in a press release indicated that an investment proposal to help raise additional funds to augment the income of the university was presented to the Finance Committee at its 29th Regular meeting held on 15th September, 2016. The Finance Committee at the said meeting discussed and adopted the proposal and forwarded same to the University Council for approval.
The statement further stated that the University Governing Council at its 84th Regular Council meeting held on 29th September, 2016 approved the investment proposal.
Pursuant to the approval, Management of the University conducted due diligence and thorough search at Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), and settled on Brooks Assets Management Limited which showed that the company was legally registered with the above-mentioned regulatory bodies.
According to the release an amount of GHS2.55m was invested in tranches with Brooks Assets Management Limited, with a maturity period of three months and the University has so far received an amount of GHS375.000.00 from its investment with Brooks. It is therefore not true that the entire investment by the University has gone down the drain.
On 20th August, 2018 the High Court in Sekondi entered a judgment in favour of the University and as a result had been liaising with the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) retrieve the rest of the investment from the company and its Chief Executive Officer Mr. Ben Kujar.
On the issue of forensic auditing, the university denied it outright saying “the Governing Council of the University has never in any of its meetings ordered forensic audit into the accounts of the university and we will therefore call on the public to disregard the said publication.
It reiterated that the University Management did not take a unilateral decision to invest the university funds with Brooks Assets Management Limited as all procedures and guidelines governing investments of university funds were followed. “At no material time did the university engage in any fraudulent activity or illegality with respect to the said investment” he stated.
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