The Bank of Ghana has sanctioned forty-seven (47) individuals and two hundred and forty-five (245) business entities for their Persistent Issuance Of Dud Cheques.

The Central Bank in March 2021 in a bid to further discourage the issuance of dud cheques, revised its sanction regime after it said it noted that despite measures introduced in 2005, the issuance of
dud cheques by some customers of banks and SDIs remained alarmingly high.

But in what would be described as the first major crack of the whip by the central bank, the businesses entities aside being hit with a 3-year ban on issuing cheques have also been banned from accessing new credit facilities within the same period.

“The affected bank customers issued dud cheques on at least three occasions between January 2022 and January 2024, despite warnings about the consequences of their actions.

The offenders are accordingly banned from:
a) Issuing cheques in Ghana for three years, effective 28th June 2024.
b) Accessing new credit facilities from the banking system for three years
with effect from 28th June 2024.” portion of a release by the central bank read.

The central bank adds the offenders may also face some legal repercussions for their actions.

“The above sanctions are without prejudice to any legal proceedings that may be taken against the offenders under Ghana’s criminal code. Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) whose customers are involved have been directed to notify the culprits of the ban and recall all unused cheque books from them. They shall not issue new cheque books to the affected customers until the sanctions are lifted.”, the release adds.

Attached is the full release by the central bank.