The Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) has frowned on comments made by Ningo Prampram MP Sam Nartey George that their operations are characterised by money laundering.
Hon. Sam George had alleged on an Accra-based radio program last Saturday that “real estate business is money laundering”.
But in a statement, the Association indicated that they work collaboratively with all relevant state agencies, including the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), to ensure compliance with the law.
They argued that they were responsible citizens who contributed significantly to the economic development of the country despite the challenges.
Describing his remarks as irresponsible and unguarded, GREDA asked the MP to retract and apologise for them, failing which they would seek legal redress.
“It is therefore an affront to our genuine, hardworking members for the Honourable MP to make such unguarded and irresponsible comments without offering any proof whatsoever. We demand an immediate, unqualified apology and retraction of this unfortunate statement within 7 days of this press release. We, however, wish to serve him notice, and notice is hereby served that we reserve our right to seek legal redress should he not retract his unfortunate statement and apologise accordingly.”
However, reacting to the statement from GREDA, Sam George stated that he has “absolutely no intention to render an apology, qualified or not, nor make any retraction”.
According to him, the Association has attempted to deny an obvious practice in their industry with their statement.
“It is shocking that an association like GREDA would seek to play the ostrich and display publicly the malaise that bedevils our nation—hypocrisy! How GREDA can boldly seek to make the claim that they are unaware of the fact that money laundering is happening in the real estate sector of our Country is shocking and disappointing”, Sam George observed in response.
He added, however, that he did not refer to all members of GREDA when he made the remark, as the Association wants to paint, indicating that he has associates in the industry who are not involved in money laundering.
Sam George expressed his resolve to stand by his statement and encourage GREDA to pursue any legal options available to them, which, according to him, will provide an avenue to wider deliberations on the phenomenon.
He noted further that he would be inviting the Office of the Special Prosecutor to inquire into the operations of GREDA, including the sale of property to buyers, dollar-denominated transactions against the Bank of Ghana Regulations, and tax evasion.
