An Accra High Court has adjourned to October 15, 2020, the case in which Mr William Ato Essien, the former Chief Executive of Capital Bank and three others are standing trial for playing various roles leading to the collapse of the bank.
Mr Essien’s lawyers are currently negotiating with the Attorney-General to refund GH¢27.5 million to the state.
The accused, and three former executives of the defunct bank, Fitzgerald Odonkor, Kate Quartey-Papafio and Tetteh Nettey are facing 26 charges levelled against them by the state.
On June 18, 2020, the prosecutor, Mrs Marina Opare Appiah, a Principal State Attorney told the court presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, a Court of Appeal judge, sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge that prosecution would proceed even, if both parties reached a consensus on terms of refund.
Following that, the first witness, Vish Ashaigbor, a Director at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), an accounting firm in Accra, had given his evidence in chief and being cross-examined by the defence counsel on July 9, 2020.
Mr Ato Essien begun negotiations with the Attorney General to refund the money pursuant to section 35 of the Courts Act, which allows an offer of compensation or restitution in respect of some of the charges brought against the accused.
Mr Essien’s lawyers had revealed that his client had already paid close to GH₵ 1.4 million and also given out some 19 newly cleared cars from the port to the state.
The prosecution, then led by the Attorney General (AG), Ms Gloria Afua Akuffo, said the accused engaged in various illegal acts that led to the dissipation of the GH¢620 million liquidity support given to Capital Bank by the Bank of Ghana between June 2015 and November 2016.
It is the case of the AG that Essien was aided by Odonkor to transfer the liquidity support to certain companies either controlled by him or in which he had an interest.
According to the AG, GH₵ 130 million of the liquidity support was transferred to MC Management Services, which was later presented to the BoG as the initial capital to set up Sovereign Bank, another bank in which Essien had an interest.
She further alleged that between June and October 2015, Essien, aided by Odonkor, appropriated GH¢27.5 million of the liquidity support by carrying it in jute bags.
“The money was purportedly used as payment for business promotion,” she told the court.
Ms Akuffo also accused Essien of giving some liquidity support to his cronies in the form of a loan to be used to buy shares in Capital Bank.
With regard to Quartey-Papafio, the A-G said as part of the scheme to further dissipate the GH¢620 million liquidity support, Essien transferred GH¢ 70 million of the money into Quartey-Papafio’s bank account at Cal Bank.
The AG accused Quartey-Papafio of trying to withdraw the money in 2017, even though she was aware that Capital Bank had collapsed and was in receivership.
The withdrawal, the A-G submitted, was, however, prevented by the receivers of Capital Bank.
During his application for bail, counsel for Quartey-Papafio, Dr Dominic Ayine, a former Deputy A-G, rebutted the facts presented by the A-G.
Making his case, he argued that the GH¢620 million liquidity support was essentially a loan that was granted to Capital Bank by the BoG, which was supposed to be paid with interest, adding that, “essentially, this was money belonging to Capital Bank.”
Counsel further submitted that per Section 60 of the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992), there was nothing wrong with a lending institution giving out loans for people to buy in that institution.
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
