Crime

uniBank case: Court directs state to furnish defence counsel documents for prosecution

The Commercial Division “one” of the Accra High Court has directed the state to furnish defence counsel for Dr Kwabena Duffour, the owner of defunct uniBank Ghana Limited and six others with documents the prosecution intends to rely on by June 15, 2020.

The case has been adjourned to June 18.

Dr Duffour, his son, Kwabena Duffour II, Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama, the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and five others have been charged with conspiracy to commit crime, fraud and money laundering, which led to the collapse of the bank in 2017.

They had already pleaded not guilty to the charges when they made their first appearance in court on February 12, 2020, and are currently on GH¢60 million bail each.

The others are HODA Holdings Limited, Ekow Nyarko Dadzie-Dennis, Elsie Dansoa Kyereh, Jeffrey Amon, Benjamin Ofori and Kwadwo Opoku Okoh.

Miss Gloria Akuffo, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, then prosecuting, said the accused  agreed to act together with a common purpose to dishonestly appropriate the sum of GH¢48,269,477.75, which was entrusted to you in trust for depositors of uniBank Ghana Limited.

She said Johnson Pandit Asiama in or about September 2016 granted a facility in the sum of GH₵300 million to Universal Merchant Bank for the benefit of uniBank Ghana Limited without satisfying the prescribed conditions set out in the Bank of Ghana Act, 2002 (Act 612).

In the same period, the prosecutor said Mr Asiama wilfully caused financial loss of GH₵150 million to the state.

She said the accused also dishonestly appropriated the sum of GH¢164,051,706.14, which was entrusted to him in trust for depositors of uniBank Ghana Limited.

The prosecutor said Kwabena Duffuor II and Dadzie-Dennis, in 2016 in Accra dishonestly appropriated the sum of GH¢332,039,936.46 and GH¢63,522,592.3, which was entrusted for depositors of uniBank Ghana Limited.

It said the accused in 2017 transferred the sum of GH¢63,522,592.32 to related parties of uniBank Ghana Limited knowing it to be proceeds of crime.

The Attorney General stated that between January 2014 and February 2018, Kwabena Duffuor took possession of the sum of GH¢663,283,917.19 knowing it to be proceeds of crime.

She said between January 2014 and February 2018, HODA Holdings Limited dishonestly received the sum of GH¢663,283,917.19, knowing it to have been obtained by means of a criminal offence.

 On April 27, 2016, the prosecutor alleged that the accused  transferred GH¢35,000,000.00 to Ghana Oil Company Limited, knowing it to be proceeds of crime.

The prosecutor stated that the accused dishonestly appropriated the sum of $13,454,483.47, which was entrusted to him in trust for depositors of uniBank Ghana Limited.

On December 5, 2016, the prosecutor alleged that Kwabena Duffuor II and  Dadzie-Dennis  transferred GH¢36,716,792.32 to Merchant Bank Ghana Limited for the purchase of adb Bank shares, knowing it to be proceeds of crime.

The Attorney General alleged that in 2017 Kwabena Duffuor II, Dadzie-Dennis, Kyereh, Amon, in December 2017 falsified the accounts of uniBank Ghana Limited to reflect an amount of GH¢102,000,000.00 as loans which they knew to be false.

BY MALIK SULLEMANA

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