One of the accused standing trial for the collapse of Capital Bank, Dr Tetteh Nettey, has denied that he and William Ato Essien dishonestly took GH¢130 million to set up Sovereign Bank.
Dr Nettey also denied that he held shares to the tune of GH¢32.5 million in Sovereign Bank.
He was answering questions under cross examination by Chief State Attorney Mrs Evelyn Keelson, at Commercial Court 7, in Accra.
Dr Nettey said that “I held shares in trust for first accused (Essien) to the tune of GH¢32.5 million. We signed documents as we did in the case of setting up MC Management Service, but unfortunately Essien did not give me a copy although I pressed for a copy of the document.”
According to Dr Nettey, the agreement was signed in the office of Essien at Dansoman in Accra.
“I met with some of the shareholders severally. My Lord the shareholders were not men of straw. They signed the Registrar General’s documents and they made me believe that the monies invested in Sovereign Bank belonged to them.”
Dr Nettey, second accused in the GH¢620 Million Capital Bank alleged scandal, said he did not set up MC Management Services because that was the brainchild of Essien, and MC Management was a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).
Dr Nettey denied that he was the Executive Director of Sovereign bank.
He said that he was made to believe that he was the Executive Director of Sovereign bank, adding that, “I acted for a brief period as the Executive Director.”
When a letter of engagement, dated July 28, 2015, was shown to Dr Nettey, he said “this document is foreign to me.”
He debunked the assertion of prosecution that he in November, 2015, signed a commercial paper for and on behalf of MC Management service.
Dr Nettey said “this is the first time I am hearing this. As a business promoter, I promote businesses, raising of funds and signing of documents were not part of my business promotions.”
He told the court that the commercial papers and letter shown to him in respect of the trial were not created by him because his name was spelt wrongly and there were differences in the Post office box numbers.
He denied signing some of the letters allegedly sent to the Security and Exchange Commission.
Dr Nettey is standing trial with William Ato Essien, former Chief Executive Officer of defunct Capital Bank and Rev. Fitzgerald Odonkor, the former Managing Director of Capital bank.
They are being held for allegedly conniving and stealing GH¢620 liquidity support offered by Bank of Ghana to defunct Capital Bank to resuscitate itself.
The accused have denied the various charges and are on bail. The case has been adjourned to April 7, and it is expected that Rev. Odonkor will open his defence. -GNA
