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The Zabzugu Rural Bank has been caught in a web of controversies that could lead to the collapse of the only rural bank in the Zabzugu District in the Northern Region. This follows accusation and counter-claims by the Board Chairman of the bank, Alhaji Baba Munkalia, and the Member of Parliament for the area, Mr John Jabaa Benam, who is said to be a board member of the bank. This has led to the situation where a number of workers who route their salaries through the bank not receiving their pay for August, this year. The Zabuzugu MP, according to the Board Chairman of the bank, was refusing to pay an amount of GH�244,000 he was alleged to have borrowed from the bank. However, the legislator has denied the allegation claiming that it was rather the bank that owed him GH�100,000. Accusations and counter-claims The board chairman of the bank, who made the allegations against the MP, said the bank had taken all the necessary steps to retrieve the money owed it by the MP, but he had refused to pay back. The Zabzugu MP is alleged to have used his position to secure the loan without collateral and has since refused to make good his debt to the bank. According to the board chairman, several appeals made to the MP by the bank to pay back the loan did not yield any results, adding that even an appeal made by the bank to the Bank of Ghana to prevail upon him to pay the loan also did not yield any results. The regulator of all rural banks in Ghana, APEX Bank, was also notified in November, 2014 to help retrieve the money and a delegation was sent to Mr Benam in this regard. ��All these efforts to get the MP to pay back the loan have not been successful,�� the board chairman said. �We are struggling at the bank...� Alhaji Baba said. Alhaji Baba said as the board chairman, he also took a loan from the bank to build a hotel after presenting a collateral. He said he had honoured his repayment obligations to the bank and wanted the MP to be compelled to do the same. Zabzugu MP But Mr Benam has denied the accusations, saying it was rather the bank that was owing him. �I need my money of more than GH�100,000 which I invested in the bank. He should bring my money. I am even not asking for interest.� He said the bank took the money with the promise of offering him shares in the bank. �As I talk to you today, I swear by my dead father that I don�t have a certificate indicating that I owe one share in the bank,� the MP told Joy News. Mr Benam said although he took GH�46,000, it was part of plans to retrieve more than GH�100,000 he invested in the bank. He, therefore, challenged the bank to go to court, if they claimed he was owing them. However, the board chairman believed that the MP's action could lead the bank into bankruptcy. Alhaji Munkalia, in addition, admitted that the MP only had GH�70,000 shares in the bank and not GH�100,000. Claims Mr Benam accused Alhaji Munkalia of rather owing the bank GH�650,000, explaining that he had not paid an interest on the said amount for more than a year. He said the board chairman took the loan to complete his building, which he had now converted into a hotel. "It is the board chairman who owes the bank,� he stated. Touching on the shares he had in the bank, the MP said he had more than GH�100,000 which comprised GH₵70,000 fiscal money with the remaining covering items he had bought for the bank. He admitted that he owed the bank only GH�46,000 whose interest, according to him, had risen to GH� 230,000. However, the board chairman has denied the MP claims saying, "he owes the bank GH�244,000".