“The Claimant continued that the King told him that the cash had come from the National Investment Bank (NIB) and the Societe Generale Bank (SGSSB) in Ghana, both of which banks kept accounts with the Respondent. The Claimant told the King that he would need to speak with someone at both banks to verify this and the King said that he could not remember the name of the person at the NIB who dealt with the requests” – this was a portion of an account given by Mr. Mark Arthur in his witness statement to the Employment Tribunal in the UK.
Mr. Mark Arthur who was fired by the Ghana International Bank for failing “to follow anti-money laundering rules and had violated security policies as it was only insured to carry cash by armoured car up to a maximum of £250,000.”
He is said to have laundered £199,960 and $200,000 in cash deposit into Otumfou’s bank account with the Ghana International Bank in the UK without following the bank regulations.
Mr. Arthur had filed a case at the Employment Tribunal saying his dismissal was unlawful.
During his account as contained in his witness statement to the tribunal, Mr. Arthur said Otumfuo Osei Tutu II summoned him to his residence in the UK to pick up £199,960 and $200,000 dollars cash, credit it to his (Otumfuo) account with the Ghana International Bank in the UK, and transfer $200,000 to Otumfuo’s offshore account in Jersey.
According to the dismissed and now an employed UK based banker, Otumfou had told him that he (Otumfuo) carried the said amount from Ghana after withdrawing it from his National Investment Bank and SG-SSB accounts but do not remember the names of the persons in those two banks who dealt with his reuqest after he asked Otumfuo to provide with him the contacts at the two banks to help him (Arthur) verify the source of the money.
Mr. Arthur further revealed that Otumfuo said he didn’t know he could have transferred the £199,960 and $200,000 dollars cash via wire transfer when he drew his attention to it as the huge cash deposits were unnessesary.
“20.The Claimant [Mr. Arthur] continued that the King told him that the cash had come from the National Investment Bank (NIB) and the Societe Generale Bank (SG-SSB) in Ghana, both of which banks kept accounts with the Respondent. The Claimant told the King that he would need to speak with someone at both banks to verify this and the King said that he could not remember the name of the person at the NIB [ and SG-SSB] who dealt with the requests.
21.The Claimant stated that he told the King that withdrawing cash in this way was unnecessary and that the Respondent could assist him in transferring large amounts of money electronically and thus
avoid the need for him to carry large amounts of cash. In his oral evidence the Claimant said that the King seemed to be unaware that electronic transfers could be made in these particular circumstances.”
Read the full decision of the tribunal:
[embeddoc url=”https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a33db7fe5274a79051c9054/Mr_M_F_Arthur_v_Ghana_International_Bank_plc_-_2200770-2017_Judgment.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google”]
Source: AwakeAfrica.com
