Ato Essien’s GHC90m repayment: Deputy A-G denies inducement claims

Deputy Attorney General, Alfred Tuah Yeboah has refused claims of inducement against the Attorney General’s Office in the ongoing trial of the founder of defunct Capital Bank, William Ato Essien.

Speaking on Joynewsfile, the deputy A-G refuted claims that the prosecution had been induced into settling on a repayment agreement with the accused person who has been charged for allegedly stealing depositors’ money.

“I’d like to place it on record that the Attorney-General’s office and for that matter the Ministry of Justice has never been compromised in this matter. We will never be compromised in this matter and is not prepared to be compromised in any other way,” he said.

According to Alfred Tuah, the prosecution ensured the interest of the state in reaching a GHC90 million repayment agreement with the accused as restitution to the state.

He noted that the prosecution, prior to arriving at the agreement, had rejected several offers made by the accused and his lawyers and that the GHC90 million was the bet best for the state.

Judgement in the trial of Ato Essien and two others who have been charged for allegedly stealing despositors' funds was scheduled to be delivered by the Accra High Court on Thursday, December 1, 2022.

Before the judge could proceed, lawyers for the accused and the prosecution informed the court that they had reached a GHC 90 million repayment agreement plan as restitution to the state.

The agreement, according to the accused, was pursuant to Section 35 of the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459), which allows an accused person to plead guilty and pay restitution to the state in cases in which there has been a financial loss to the state.

However, the judge, in ruling on the said agreement, flatly rejected the plan, which would have seen Mr. Essien pay the said amount in various installments within the year.

Notwithstanding that the accused person has already made a payment of GHC30 out of the total amount due to the state, the judge refused the agreement, according to a report by Starrfm.com.gh sighted by GhanaWeb.

According to the report, the court, in its own description, said the agreement, as it were, has the potential to make crime ''attractive'' considering the value of the amount in question in 2015 and today.

The presiding judge, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour further observed that Section 35 cannot actually be activated within the context as the monies involved do not belong to the state but rather to depositors and shareholders of the defunct Capital Bank.

Justice Kyei Baffour thus adjourned the case to December 13, 2022, asking that the prosecution and the accused come back with a better deal and a superior argument for their agreement to be admitted under Section 35 of Act 459.

Background

Ato Essien is facing trial with the Managing Director (MD) of the defunct bank, Fitzgerald Odonkor, and the MD of MC Management Services, a company said to be owned by Essien, Tettey Nettey.

The prosecution has accused the three persons of engaging in various illegal acts that led to the dissipation of a chunk of the GH¢620 million in liquidity support given to the Capital Bank by the BoG between June 2015 and November 2016.

The accused persons have pleaded not guilty to various counts of theft, abetment to stealing, conspiracy to steal, and money laundering.

They maintained their innocence all throughout the trial, with Ato Essien maintaining at all material moments that he had board approval for all the actions he took.

GA/WA