The Managing Editor of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Malik Kweku Baako says he is aware of plans by President John Mahama's brother, Ibrahim Mahama, to settle his company's indebtedness to Merchant Bank by December 15, 2013.

Kweku Baako said the president's brother was in the process of repaying the loan which his Engineers and Planners firm contracted from the bank in 2007.

"I have seen enough records that by December 15, Engineers and Planners would have settled its indebtedness with Merchant Bank," Mr. Baako said Saturday on Joy FM's news analysis programme Newsfile, which was also live on the Joy News Channel on MultiTV.

The loan became the subject of controversy follwing the proposed sale of Merchant Bank to FirstRand of South Africa. The sale, according to sources close to the shareholders, has been necessitated by huge debt profile of the bank. 

Engineers and Planners took a loan of GHS57 million from the bank but huge interests have acrued on the amount. The debt according to reports now stands at 175 million Ghana cedis.

A pro-opposition group Alliance For Accountable Governance (AFAG) had called for the assets of Mr. Ibrahim Mahama to be frozen pending investigations into the matter.

AFAG claimed E&P's debt was 19.1% of the struggling Bank's debt portfolio. The group also claimed the loan was reportedly left unserviced by E&P since President Mahama's party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) came to power in 2009.

Engineers and Planners had however indicated that some technicalities caused the delay in the repayment of the loan, insisting there was a payment plan the company was following in servicing the debt. 

The issue has resurfaced with the announced sale of the bank to Fortiz Equity Fund. 

But Kweku Baako feels it is "very petty" to politicize the sale of the Bank by trying to link Ibrahim Mahama to it. He revealed that "in the next few days it will be clear that that E&P's indebtedness has been worked out".