MTN Ghana has announced that it has finalized modalities for the disbursement of funds to victims of Savannah Brokerage Investment(SBI) limited.
This decision was taken after management of the mobile money met with the representatives of the victims of the “Ponzi scheme”, the Ghana Police and the Bank of Ghana.
According to a release by MTN, the police has since initiated a process to secure a court order to unfreeze the wallets to facilitate the disbursement.
About thirty thousand customers had their monies locked up after being lured into a ponzi scheme operated by Savanna Brokerage Investment.
The total amount to be disbursed according to MTN is 12.288 million cedis.
Out of the money to be disbursed, 12.096 million remains the actual amount frozen by the Mobile Money limited whith 192,297 million cedis being the interest generated over the period.
MTN after the meeting with the stakeholders also set up a guide on how to disburse the funds. This includes;
- Only those who invested and have not received any payments qualify for refund.
- Those who invested and got part of their principal paid to them also qualify.
- All those who invested and got their contributions back in full along with those who got their contributions and more do not qualify for the refund.
- The refund will be disbursed proportionally based on each person’s contribution made as against the total investment.
- Contributors who have not received part of their investment before the freeze will have that amount deducted from their total expected and the difference paid to them. This is to ensure equitable distribution of funds.
- Those who invested from their own mobile money wallets will not be required to provide any information because all related information are available.
- However, those who visited various MTN mobile money Agent or merchant requesting for investment to be made on their behalf must provide at least the three mandatory items for identification before refund would be made. They are Name of Agent/Branch (Mandatory), Reference Number/ Username (Mandatory), Amount (mandatory), Transaction ID and Date.
- The modalities shall be made public for 5 working days after which the disbursements will commence, barring any development within the 5 working days and upon receipt of the court order to proceed with the disbursements.
- Mobile Money Limited will send an activity report to the Regular upon completion of the disbursement exercise.
The telco is however assuring its customers that it will continue to work closely with the regulator and other stakeholders to keep their mobile money safe and secure.