President John Mahama has denied using executive power to stall attempts by Merchant Bank to recover a loan granted Engineers & Planners, a company owned by his brother.

The president insists that no conflict of interest situation arose when he sat in meetings to discuss the case involving Engineers & Planners and Merchant Bank, following the company's failure to settle its debt to the bank.

Engineers & Planners took a loan of Gh¢57 million from the bank in 2007 but consistently defaulted creating major disagreement between the two organisations.

Documents available to Joy News indicate that Mr Mahama as Vice-President and acting on a petition to him by lawyer for E&P, Tony Lithur, held meetings with Merchant Bank over the company's indebtedness to the bank.

He was consequently accused of using his executive authority to influence the decision of Merchant Bank which had threatened to use legal means to retrieve the money from E&P.

But responding to questions from journalists at the Flagstaff House to mark the first anniversary of his administration Tuesday, president Mahama said he did not use executive power to influence Merchant Bank in its debts.

"I have no interest in Engineers & Planners [and] I don't own a single share in Engineers and Planners," the president said.

"...the president [Atta Mills] called a meeting which I attended, to discuss the distress in which Merchant Bank was...one of the debtors happened to be Engineers and Planners which happened to be owned by my younger brother, Ibrahim and [so] I sat in that meeting.

"Out of that meeting, no intervention was made to direct Merchant Bank to do anything...After all I became president in July [2012], I could have influenced SSNIT [Social Security and National Insurance Trust], I could have dismissed the Merchant Bank Board...I didn't do that".

The president said state institutions must take steps to retrieve all monies owed them by companies and individuals.