Flashback: £350k scandal; Asantehene’s managers failed him – Baako

In October 2017, the editor-in-chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, is quoted to have described the manner in which Otumfuo Osei Tutu’s funds were deposited into his account at the Ghana International Bank in the UK as untidy.

Report by UK's Telegraph and Daily Mail stated that Otumfuo handed £350,000 cash to a banker Mark Arthur to be deposited on his behalf at the Ghana International Bank in the UK.

According to Mr Arthur, after receiving the cash from Otumfuo, he took an Uber taxi to Ghana International Bank’s city offices to deposit the money in Otumfuo’s account.

He explained that Otumfuo Osei Tutu II told him the cash had been withdrawn from banks in Ghana and brought to the UK and instructed him to move $200,000 to an account at Standard bank in Jersey.

Commenting on the issue, Mr Baako said, he cannot fault Otumfuo Osei Tutu II for any wrongdoing, however, the transaction could have been done through the king’s bank in Ghana to his account at the Ghana International Bank in the UK, that’s if the money was raised here in Ghana.

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, while on a visit in the UK in 2017, was reported to have laundered £350,000. The Manhyia Palace refuted the claim stating that the report was inaccurate and inconsistent.

The case sparked a huge storm in Ghana with some accusing Otumfuo of engaging in money laundering, but the Tribunal in a unanimous decision dismissed the case.

Read the full story originally published on October 14, 2017 on GhanaWeb

Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako has described as untidy the manner in which the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu deposited an amount of £350,000 cash into his account at the Ghana International Bank in London, UK.

The King is reported to have summoned an official of the Bank, Mark Arthur to his multi-million-pound residence in Henley-on-Thames and handed him a bag containing almost £200,000 in sterling as well as $200,000 in US currency with consecutive serial numbers.

Mr. Arthur, a dual citizen of the UK and Ghana and the bank’s second most senior executive, drove to the Asantehen’s home for the cash and then took it in an Uber taxi to the bank’s City offices for deposit in the king’s account.

The Bank, filed a complaint with the UK’s National Crime Agency after it became suspicious following the transfer of the cash the next day to Jersey, according to documents put out by the London Employment Tribunal.

Commenting on the issue on Joy FM’s News File show Saturday, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako who admitted he doesn’t see anything wrong done by the Asantehene, added that the transaction could have been done in a much better way through the king’s bank in Ghana to his account at the Ghana International Bank in the UK, that’s if the money was raised here in Ghana.

“The Nayiri, Yabonwura, they’re all overlords, but when it comes to that personality, their image, the value of their stature I would prefer that a transaction of this nature are not dealt with the way we’ve been told… I believe strongly with the benefit of hindsight, the great man will not do this again. He’ll not handle it with this mode of operation, that’s my feeling.”