Accra – Fresh information on the scandal at the Bank of Ghana(BoG) suggests that Sebastian Gavor has admitted to ‘error of judgement’ on hindsight and may have been overzealous in the role he played in the US$1.5 million transaction.
“I may have been guilty of a serious lapse of judgement but I am happy that the actions I took did not stem from self-interest nor from a desire to take advantage of the system but from a genuine desire to lend a helping hand to deal with the myriad of problems facing the country.(He had said earlier in the letter that he thought the US$1.5million would help improve the dearth of dollars on the market) . I may have failed at that but I guess that is what over-zealousness can cause.”
Mr. Gavor who said this in a letter he wrote to Dr. Kwabena Duffour, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BOG) on April 25, 2000, asked the Bank to hold him responsible for any lapse.
He also made a brave intervention on behalf of Mr. J.J.Larbie, the Deputy Head of the Banking Department whose department authorised payment.
“I would also like to make one last appeal. Mr. J. J. Larbie acted in this case because he saw my name associated with the cheques and he believed that I would not be involved in any wrong action. He was also informed that the cheque had cleared. I appeal that if there is any sanction being contemplated against Mr. J. J. Larbie, I would gladly stand and receive that punishment since I directly caused it by my request to him”.
Mr. Gavor was however adamant in his firmness that he did not act criminally.
Independent Chronicle analysis of his action show that, the actions of this brilliant author and banker who was only a set away from Deputy Governor status, exhibited serious lack of vigilance and laxity.
He delayed unduly in reporting the bounced cheques to the Bank’s Management.
Mr. Gavor even admitted this but offered an explanation.
“I may have delayed in reporting but the reason for that delay is not concealment but to make frantic efforts to clear the problem. Once I realised the problem was beyond me, I reported it.”
In a related development, the Chronicle has learnt that the security agencies had confirmed that the notification the BoG purported to have received from the Chase Manhattan Bank that authorised the payment of the money to Hajia Ocansey, was a fake.
The Chronicle could not independently confirm it by press time Sunday afternoon as a fax message to Messrs B. Baurerh and G.Mitchell of the Chase Manhattan who allegedly sent the confirmation fax to the BoG for payment, had not been answered yet.
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