Workers From A Ghanaian Insurance Firm Are In Police Trouble For Issuing Fake Insurance Stickers
According to Ghana’s National Insurance Commission (NIC), the Airport Police has arrested some staff of Heritage Energy Insurance Company Ltd for dealing in fake insurance stickers from the Accra-based firm.
On January 1, 2020, the NIC introduced a Motor Insurance Database (MID) with electronic stickers to replace the old system dominated by manual insurance stickers.
Despite the new policy, some firms – including those regulated – have been playing by their own rules, issuing now-fake insurance stickers to unsuspecting clients.
Heritage Energy Insurance happens to be one of the culprits, as they were found wanting by the Special Investigative Unit of the NIC. The group was reportedly tipped off by a concerned individual, developing a case now under the Airport Police’s investigation.
In Q4 2019, the NIC published the names of regulated insurance firms playing by its rules. Heritage Insurance happens to not have been on the list. Following this omission, all the insurance sold to clients since then are invalid, according to the NIC.
The company, by law, was not in good standing with the NIC to sell insurance to anyone. Going ahead to do so without proper mandate from the regulator violates an enforcement action to not sell new businesses to the general public.
It appears Heritage Insurance are not the only defaulters. Oliver Bio, Senior Manager (Legal) of the NIC, revealed that a female insurance agent was also arrested in the Ashanti Region.
According to him, the agent who sells motor insurance for Loyalty Insurance, was issuing fake stickers of Prime Insurance Company Ltd to members of the public. The arrested worker is still being investigated.
The new Motor Insurance Database was created to prevent the illegal issuance of fake insurance to unsuspecting Ghanaians, a fraud problem which has cost the country’s insurance sector an estimate of GHC 325 Mn (over USD 60 Mn).
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