The Official Liquidator of Ghana Airways Limited has so far sold 30 of the 55 landed properties available for sale at the inception of the liquidation, bringing the total realizations to US$17.3 million. This came to light at the company’s Fourth Creditors Meeting held in Accra on June 15, 2007 to provide creditors with an update of the progress made in the exercise in accordance with the Bodies Corporate (Official Liquidation) Act, 1963, Act 180. A statement issued to the GNA on Wednesday said the liquidation process, now at its final phase, spanning the period January 1 to May 31, 2007 as outlined by the Liquidator entails completion of asset realization, administration of creditor claims, and payment of dividends. The process also involves compliance with statutory requirements, including the holding of regular creditors update meetings. The statement said the Liquidator had substantially realized the bulk of Ghana Airways assets except for a few which are subject to third party ownership disputes. “The OL has reported that he has made additional asset realizations of about US$4.6 million from the last creditors meeting, bringing total asset realizations to date to about US$17.3 million. “The OL estimates to make additional realizations of US$12.6 million, bringing the total realizations to the close of the liquidation to about US$30 million. “This shows there has been a significant improvement in expected total asset realizations from the initially projected US$20 million as reported in the first meeting of creditors.” The statement said the bulk of the GH realizations came from the sale of fixed assets, mainly landed properties, which account for about 65 per cent of the total projected realizations while other proceeds were from the collection of receivables, cash accounts and commercial agreements. “The unsold properties are mainly due to third party ownerships disputes which the OL is actively resolving, while a few others, particularly the local outstations, have attracted bids which are low when compared with the assessed values for the same and the OL is in the process of advertising these properties.” On agreements of creditor claims and GH creditors in general, the statement said the OL had received a total of 260 creditor claims amounting to US$209 million to date, excluding employee claims. The claims, it said, were divided into three main categories in accordance with Act 180, that is, secured, preferential and unsecured claims. “To date, the OL has agreed 62 per cent of the total body of creditor claims. About 38 per cent of the received claims are still under reconciliation mainly due to lack of sufficient documentation or are subject to legal disputes pending before determination. With regard to secured claims, the statement said the OL had agreed and made provisions for the payment of four of the six secured creditor claims amounting to US$22 million and to the two preferential claims received from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) respectively. It said an amount of US$1.6 million had been made to SSNIT in full and final satisfaction of its claims in the liquidation, adding that the Government of Ghana had agreed that the OL could retain the about ¢18 billion, approximately US$2 million GH owed to IRS for unpaid payroll taxes as part of GoG’s support for the liquidation. Source: GNA