Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd has filed a libel suit against policy analyst, Bright Simons, following his allegations of a “sweetheart forex exchange deal” between the bank and the Electricity Company of Ghana.
On March 12, 2024, the President and founder of mPedigree, Bright Simons, inquired through a tweet directed toward Fidelity Bank Ghana to provide evidentiary notes on the dollar rate at which it sold dollars to the Electricity Company of Ghana in October 2023.
Simons alleged that based on documents available to him, the power distributors paid an excess of ¢100 million when they purchased forex from the bank.
“ECG, Ghana’s govt-controlled electricity utility, needs to explain, & URGENTLY, why it is “dishing out” ~80 million GHS for free to Fidelity Bank in sweetheart exchange rate deals. Unless ECG knows something about the “true value” of the Cedi that the rest of the market don’t,” Simons tweeted.
Simon’s allegation did not sit well with Fidelity Bank. On March 4, Fidelity Bank issued a statement denying any wrongdoing in the said transaction and threatened to sue him.
The bank stated that the allegations were false and misleading indicating that it had not had any forex deal with ECG at a rate that is not in line with the prevailing market rate.
- It is an Incontrovertible Fact that ECG Paid ¢80M in Excess, Bright Simons Replies Fidelity Bank
- There Was No Sweetheart Exchange Deals, Fidelity Bank Replies Bright Simons on FX Allegations
- PURC Orders ECG to Submit Data for Auditing, Publish Dumsor Timetable
Instead of Fidelity Bank or the ECG providing clarifications in the inquiry, the former further instructed its legal partners, Ayine & Partners led by the former attorney general and MP for Bolgatanga East, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayiene to demand a retraction and public apology from Bright Simons.
On March 8th, a publication by The Accra Times revealed that Bright Simons has instructed his lawyers to debunk claims that his assertion of ill intent between ECG and Fidelity Bank is factually inaccurate.
His lawyers maintained that Simons was privy to “incontrovertible facts” that were supplied by the ECG to the Cash Waterfall Mechanism Committee, granting him ample evidence to purport that the deal was a “sweetheart” one.
On March 19, the Executive Director of ACEP, Ben Boakye hinted that lawyers of Bright Simons have been told of a libel lawsuit filed against him by lawyers of Fidelity Bank Ltd.
Simon himself announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he has been served and has subsequently joined in the libel suit.
He further indicated that this particular issue of discrepancy has resulted in the interruptions in power (Dumsor) the country is currently experiencing.
“For far too long, the country has underplayed the financial mismanagement that leads to debts piling, fuel shortages, poor maintenance, and generation and distribution shortfalls,” he tweeted.
The Accra Times will follow the proceedings and update its readers accordingly.