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The embattled Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Bertha Ansah-Djan, otherwise known as Bertha Sogah, has openly admitted taking an amount of GHC500,000 (C5billion) from the accounts of the state-run organization and handing it over to a private company owned by her husband. However, Mrs Sogah, who was asked to step aside so that investigations could be conducted into a series of allegations, including conflict of interest, levelled against her, said there was nothing wrong with her husband benefitting from the MASLOC magnanimity. Amisgold Microfinance Services Limited, owned by her husband, Prof. Dotsevi Sogah, was given GHC500,000 to run its operations. �It is important to state that the mere existence of a familial relationship does not automatically constitute conflict of interest. If this were the case, it would be difficult for the head of any organization in Ghana to be involved in any decision-making in the country because of the existence of interrelations and familial relations among Ghanaians,� the suspended MASLOC boss said in a written response to allegations that she had doled out money to Amisgold. President Mahama had ordered Mrs Sogah to step aside for investigations to commence into the multiple allegations of fraud, conflict of interest and diversion of funds into her personal bank accounts. In her lengthy response to the allegations which are being investigated by the National Security apparatus, a copy of which is in the possession of DAILY GUIDE, she parried all the allegations levelled against her as contained in a report. The report among other things alleged that �Madam Bertha Ansah-Djan, took undue advantage of her position as CEO of MASLOC to develop a fraudulent scheme which enabled her to divert monies belonging to MASLOC into her son and husband�s company, Amisgold Microfinance Services Ltd, to the tune of Five Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHC500,000.00).� The report further alleged that �the money allowed Amisgold Microfinance Services Ltd to commence operations by giving out loans to its clients.� In her response, Madam Ansah-Djan, as she is fondly known, openly admitted, �MASLOC, indeed, placed an amount of GH�500,000.00 in an investment account with Amisgold Microfinance Services Limited (hereafter referred to as �Amisgold�) at a predetermined and agreed upon yield and period, as we do with many other financial institutions.� Justification She however claimed that �Amisgold returned the funds together with the accrued interest to MASLOC, which can be readily traced and verified in the records of MASLOC in the accounts department.� She therefore insisted that �the placement transactions in all cases, including that done with Amisgold, were all undertaken with complete transparency without any preferential treatment or undue advantage being given to Amisgold or, for that matter, to any of the other financial institutions that MASLOC places funds with.� Interestingly, she responded to the charge of conflict of interest by stating that �there is no policy or regulation in MASLOC that disqualifies relatives/spouses of workers in MASLOC from obtaining financial support from MASLOC� and that �Amisgold, by virtue of being a small-scale company, qualifies for the financial products offered by MASLOC. It is important to state that the mere existence of a familial relationship does not automatically constitute conflict of interest,� she emphasized. According to her, there was no cause for alarm over the funds advanced to Amisgold because her husband who owns the company in question is not based in Ghana. �More importantly, except for occasional visits, he does not live in Ghana but in the US, and is not responsible for the day-to-day management of Amisgold or, for that matter, any company in Ghana,� she said. Apart from that, the MASLOC boss noted that �the operations of Amisgold perfectly fall in tandem with the business objectives of MASLOC, which was set up by the Ghana Government to provide financial assistance to small-scale businesses. �Amisgold was not the only microfinance company to which MASLOC has made available its financial products.� She further stated that �the same rules that MASLOC applies to anyone or business entities interested in any of the financial products of MASLOC, were applied to Amisgold, and no preferential treatment or undue advantage was accorded Amisgold,� insisting that �the relationship between Prof. Sogah and the CEO is fully publicly disclosed.� Other than providing MASLOC with what she described as �a better knowledge of who the officers of Amisgold are�, Madam Ansah-Djan said �their asset holdings and the impeccability of their integrity, the familial relationship played no specific role in the deliberations that resulted in the placement� and that �there was not a loss of even a pesewa to the state.� Instead, she said, there was monetary gain.