An Accra Circuit Court has handed down an eight-year prison sentence with hard labor to a 34-year-old man for operating an unlicensed microfinance company. Kofi Asante was also charged with forging a license from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for deposit-taking businesses.

He pleaded guilty to both charges—operating a microfinance business without a license and forging official documents to do so. Consequently, he received concurrent sentences of four and eight years in prison, respectively.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Emmanuel Haligah informed the court, presided over by Mr. Jojo Hagan Amoah, that in June 2023, the police received information about Asante's establishment of microfinance business centers under the names KM COMMUNITY BANK and PRYM CAPITAL in Suhum and its environs. He did so with the intention of collecting deposits from the public without the requisite license from the Bank of Ghana.

ASP Haligah noted that KM Community Bank purportedly had branches in Anum-Apapam, Akorabo, and Amanase, while Prym Capital was headquartered in Suhum.

On June 30, 2023, the accused was arrested for investigation, and searches were conducted at all his office premises. Copies of documents falsely claiming to be licenses issued by the Bank of Ghana in the name of KM Community Bank were found and seized for investigation.

It was revealed during the investigation that between January and April 2023, Asante had forged a Bank of Ghana license to operate the microfinance business. He had also established branches in Suhum, Anum Apapam, Akorabo, and Amanase.

As part of his operations, Asante hired 24 individuals as sales agents in Suhum and the surrounding areas. He managed to convince approximately 950 members of the public to make daily deposits totaling GHC56,000.00 with his businesses.

In his cautioned statement, Asante admitted that KM COMMUNITY BANK and PRYM CAPITAL were not registered with the Office of the Registrar of Companies and were not authorized by the Bank of Ghana to engage in deposit-taking operations. He also confessed to forging the Bank of Ghana's license.

ASP Haligah said after the investigation, he was arraigned.