A commercial lawyer, Nana Asante Bediatuo says insisting on payments for goods and services in foreign currencies in the country is unlawful. He said it is illegal and criminal for any business, agency or institution to demand payments in foreign currency without any exemptions. Nana Bediatuo’s comments were in response to reports that the Ghana Airport Company in Kumasi refused to accept payments in the Ghana Cedi. Instead, the company insisted on receiving money in dollars. A businessman who pleaded anonymity said the company refused to accept the cedi equivalent of $5,000 dollars in lieu of services rendered him. “The bill is in dollars but we don’t have dollars at the moment so we called them up to see if they could give us an exchange rate so we could pay them in (Ghana) Cedi, we spoke to the accountant and he insisted they are not going to accept cedis for payment…even though we are in Ghana our currency is the Ghana Cedi.” Management of the company have declined comment on the issue. But Nana Asante Bediatuo told Joy News’ Evans Mensah the action of the company is illegal. He wondered why the company was violating the Bank of Ghana directives that organisations and businesses should desist from using foreign currencies to do business in the country. Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com