According to banking sources, the Interior Ministry has refused to let banks that have brought armoured bullion trucks into the nation to take delivery of them from the ports.
It's been six months since some of these banks completed the requisite port clearance formalities, including payment of tariffs, after importing these vehicles designed to protect cash-in-transit and the police officers who accompany it.
Letters after letters to the Interior Ministry requesting authorisation for the banks to take delivery of the cars from the ports have received no answer, according to papers obtained by adomonline.com.
Processes of Approval
This is despite the fact that the ministry said explicitly in a letter to the banks that they needed to acquire approval from the Interior Minister before to taking receipt of the cars when they arrived at the port.
For example, a letter written on behalf of the Interior Minister and signed by Chief Director Adelaide Anno-Kumi to one of the banks in September last year asked the banks to note that when the armoured vehicles arrive at the port, you should obtain clearance from the Minister for Interior to take delivery.
Despite the foregoing instructions, the ministry has refused to allow some of these banks to take delivery of their cars from the ports, despite the fact that they have written to the ministry requesting such clearance.
According to our sources, the ministry's denial is perplexing, especially because the Bank of Ghana's Currency Management Department had previously authorized the banks' petitions for the importation of such cars.
The content of the document [request to purchase the bullet proof vehicles] indicated that it meets the required standard specifications of armouring for cash-in-transit vehicles as directed by Bank of Ghana, according to a letter written and signed by Joseph Nartey for Head of Currency Management Department of Bank of Ghana in September last year.
Expenses spent by importing financial institutions
Our banking sources have expressed concern about the cars' mounting demurrage costs in the face of the interior ministry's delay.
Some of the institutions have already had to pay tax of at least GHS 800,000 on automobiles they imported.
During robbery of bullion vans, the IGP issued a warning.
As readers may recall, at the height of the country's bullion van thefts, then-Inspector General of Police, COP James Oppong-Boanuh, blamed the success rate of such heists on the vans' poor character.
The bullion vehicles, he said, are "not fit for purpose," putting both police officers and the money they convey at risk.
By the end of June 2021, he demanded that the Association of Bankers supply strengthened armoured vehicles for hauling money, as agreed between the banks and the Police Service, or the Police Service will remove its personnel from escort responsibilities.
The current state of affairs
It is consequently mystifying that, despite these warnings and the urgency with which the vans were required at the time, and even now, state officials fail to address vehicle arrivals with the same seriousness.
Attempts to obtain a response from the Interior Ministry
So far, our efforts to get the ministry to reply to why it isn't acting on the banks' request for clearance have been fruitless.
The Interior Ministry has likewise been unable to find a solution.
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