Beige Trial: The Bank did not entrust depositors’ funds to the accused person directly - Investigator tells court

Assistant Superintendent of Police Joseph Abednego Atsha, the investigator in the trial of Michael Nyinaku, CEO of defunct Beige Bank, said the Bank did not entrust depositors’ funds to the accused person directly.

“The funds were, however, used to accomplish services for the nine entities owned by the accused person,” he added. 

The witness, in a cross-examination, agreed that the accused person did not benefit directly from the GH21,123,270 transactions.

Nyinaku, who is facing charges of stealing GH¢340million allegedly belonging to depositors and money laundering has denied the charges.

The Court earlier admitted him to bail in the sum of GH¢342million with two sureties, who are public servants earning not less thanGH¢2,000.00.

It further directed the accused to deposit his passport with the Court’s Registry.

The witness said, however, Mr Nyinaku owned the nine Companies that received the transactions.

ASP Atsha, who is the fifth prosecution witness, was answering questions in a cross examination by Counsel for the accused person.

The witness disagreed that the funds transferred to the nine Companies belonged to First Africa Savings and Loans (FASL) account and not depositors. 

The witness said the funds were depositors’ funds that were transferred to the FASL account.

ASP Atsha admitted that the accused person was the Chief Executive of the Bank and the role he played in respect of all the various sums of money which formed the basis of the charges was in discharge of his duties as the CEO.

He further admitted that the Bank had other departments, which played various roles in the Bank’s business operations.

Mr Thaddeus Sory, Counsel, suggested to the witness that the Bank did not exist in 2015 and that the BoG did a thorough investigation on the Bank before giving it a licence in June 2017, the witness said he was aware that the Bank of Ghana played a role in the granting of the licence to the Bank.

He, however, added that he did not know the extent of the role played by the BoG. 

The witness informed the Court that the payment vouchers and the cash disbursement

request forms confirmed that the accused person was paid the sum of GH₵50,000 to cater for his expenses as a director. 

ASP Atsha, however, said he could not actually confirm that this was the purpose for which the said sums were actually paid. 

The witness further admitted that the GH₵50,000 was in the account of the Beige Bank at Ecobank and therefore, the funds belonged to the Beige Bank and not depositors.  

He admitted that the payment vouchers and cheque disbursement forms attached to the suspicious transactions report indicate that the purpose for which the GH₵300,000 and GH₵450,000 were paid was not for the personal benefit of the accused person. 

“The purpose stated in the vouchers for the GH₵300,000 was director’s expenses and the GH₵450,000 was deposit for shares,” he added.

The Case has been adjourned to October 13, 2023, for continuation.