I have forgiven but my property must be protected - Ato Essien

The founder of defunct Capital Bank says although he has let go of any bitterness he feels towards the Bank of Ghana, he is ready to fight for his property through a suit.

William Ato Essien said he is not prepared to let go of what he has toiled and worked so hard for.

He said, “I have forgiven but my property must be protected…under the property protection act. We are a property promoting democracy. Hard work must be rewarded”.

In August 2017, the central bank revoked the license of two commercial banks - UT Bank and Capital Bank.

According to BoG, the revocation was as a result of failure of the two banks to turn around their negative capital adequacy position which has lingered on for some time now.

BoG said the action had been taken against the affected banks due to their “terrible” financial situation and their inability to perform within the banking industry.

But Mr Ato Essien, has denied the accusation, stating that there was no point robbing a bank he founded quizzing “looking at migrating it from an unregulated institution to a regulated space and now to a universal bank, what was the point?”.

Hence, his decision to sue the Bank of Ghana denying mis-governance claims made by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

He further revealed on Good Evening Ghana on Metro TV that he was shocked as to why BoG dissolved his bank, adding that it was tough explaining the circumstances that led to the collapse of the financial institution to shareholders.

“The shareholders knew the story, but it was also going to be difficult, like I was saying to you, to go to people one by one”, he noted

On why the silence months after the incident, he believed that there is time for everything and to him, now is the right time to put the “facts out there”.