A female customer of the Adabraka branch of the First Allied Savings and Loans Limited in Accra allegedly slept at the banking hall overnight on Thursday August 2, 2018.
38-year-old Doris Agyemang allegedly slept with just a piece of cloth on the floor at the banking hall in the process of not receiving her withdrawal.
But police officer and staff of the bank refused to wake her up when it was time to close for the day in order not to repeat the brutality which a police officer meeting out on women and her toddler in a banking hall of the Midland Savings and Loans Shiashie branch in Accra.
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It would be recalled that a police officer, Lance Corporal Frederick Amanor Skalla who was on duty at the Midland Savings and Loans Shiashie branch was caught on video brutalizing a 32-year-old customer, Patience Sarfo.
The issue attracted public sympathy when the video of the brutality went viral. Currently, the police officer in question has been remanded while the staff of the Savings and Loan Company who were present during the brutality have been suspended.
Thousands of customers of First Allied Savings and Loans Limited across the country have not been given their withdrwals for the past month since the Savings and Loans is cash trapped.
In Bolga in the Upper East Region, for instance, some aggrieved customers said: “the most annoyed part of it is that they give us, the customers, GHS100 every dayâ€.
“How can I have GHS10,000 and I want to withdraw GHS5,000, only for the bank to be giving me GHS100 every day", a customer told PrimeNewsGhana.
Customers who trooped to the Takoradi branch were also turned away while customers of the Assin Fosu branch in the Central Region had to stage a demonstration on Friday to demand their monies.
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The situation at the Abossey-Okai branch was no different as most of their customers have already petitioned their leaders to prevail on the management of the Savings and Loan Company to make their monies available to them.
Narrating what transpired at the Adabraka branch of the First Allied Savings and Loans Limited to PrimeNewsGhana, Doris Agyemang said she has saved for the past years but for about a month now, any time she goes to the banking hall to withdraw money, she is told there is no money.
She said the situation has affected her business to the extent that she has no goods to sell again.
Doris Agyemang added that on Thursday, August 2, she had no money on her so she decided to visit the banking hall to make a withdrawal but she was told there was no money.
She explained that she decided not to go home without the money because she had nothing on her so she sat on the floor of the savings and loan and in the process, fell asleep.
Doris Agyemang added that when it was time for the savings and loan to close, they did not wake her up but rather, locked the banking hall, leaving her inside.
The businesswoman said the staff of the savings and loan opened the banking hall at around 7:30 am on Friday, August 3, 2018, before she was able to get out of the place.
She, therefore, promised to withdraw her money before she leaves the place.
Read the full statement:
FIRST ALLIED SAVINGS AND LOAN COMPANY LIMITED PRESS STATEMENT
CUSTOMER NOT LOCKED IN FIRST ALLIED SAVINGS AND LOAN (FASL) OVERNIGHT
ACCRA, 4TH AUGUST, 2018
On Thursday 2nd August 2018 an incident took place on the premises of one of the branch of First Allied Savings and Loans Ltd which has unfortunately given rise to stories circulating on social media that a customer of the bank had been locked in overnight on the bank’s premises.
A customer of the bank, had gone to one of our branches on that day to make a withdrawal. Unfortunately, as the amount she was seeking to withdraw was sizable, she was asked to return the next day.
The customer, however, refused to leave the premises despite all pleas. Finally in an effort to make her more comfortable and also to prevent disruption of the banks operations, she was taken to the Conference Room at the branch where she was kept company by some members of staff who continued to plead with her well into the night. Late into the night a complain was made to the Adabraka police. At around 11pm when staff needed to go home and the customer still refused to leave the premises after intervention by the four police officers presence, she was left in the company of two other staff members but with the understanding that she was free to leave whenever she wanted to as the door was not locked.
Management wishes to stress that at no point was the customer prevented from leaving the premises of the bank and in fact all efforts were made to try to persuade her to do so and to return the next day. Unfortunately, however, the customer, chose of her own free will to remain at the bank premises.
First Allied has in recent weeks been suffering from unusual levels of withdrawals by some of its customers owing to rumours circulating on Social media and some section of the general public that the bank is owned by Mr. Kwesi Nyantakyi and that action is going to be taken by the authorities which will affect its operations. These rumours are without basis and the result of confusing FaSL (First Allied Savings and Loans Limited) with FSL ( Fountain Savings and Loans Limited), the company alleged to be owned by Mr. Kwesi Nyantakyi. These withdrawals have unfortunately made it difficult for us to serve those customers wishing to make sizeable withdrawals with the immediacy that they are used to. We apologize for this and ask our customers to bear with us during these challenging times and to disregard these malicious rumours.
 We wish to assure you, our cherished customers that First Allied Savings and Loans Limited is committed to serving you as we have been doing for the past 22 years.
Thank You.
For further information, please contact any of our branch Managers nationwide.
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