Beige Bank case: Not a cedi was disbursed to the accused from the GH¢10m transferred to BBL

Foster Nyarko Brobbey, former General Manager of Babbel Limited (BBL), a subsidiary under The Beige Group, has clarified to the High Court in Accra how an amount of GH¢10 million was utilized on projects.

While refuting claims that Michael Nyinaku, the founder of the defunct Beige Bank, received those funds and used them for his personal benefit, the 11th Prosecution Witness stated that this assertion cannot be proven.

Testifying as the 11th Defence Witness for the former Chief Executive Officer of Beige Bank, Mr. Brobbey said in his Witness Statement, adopted by the Court, that Mr. Nyinaku, the accused, did not benefit from those transactions.

"Based on the documents I have attached and marked FB1, FB2, and FB3, there is no doubt that the funds transferred to Adelia were used by the company itself," the Witness, who is a lawyer by profession, stated.

"The bank statement provides a clear record of how the funds were utilized, including the payees and their purposes. It is noteworthy that there were no payments made to the accused person," he told the High Court in Accra, presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe.

"To the best of my knowledge, the accused did not receive any funds from Adelia nor any benefits from the transactions undertaken by Adelia," he added.

It was his submission that, based on the explanations provided and the document attached and marked FB4, "I can confirm that the amount of GH₵10M paid to BBL by the bank was part of payments made on account by the bank for projects that were being executed for the benefit of the bank."

He added that "all of which projects had been delivered to the bank long before it was put under receivership."

The Witness stated that, by virtue of the fact that these projects had already been delivered to the bank, "the allegation that this amount has not been accounted for by the bank is not accurate."

Mr. Nyinaku, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the defunct bank, has been charged with allegedly stealing GH¢2.1 billion of depositors' money from the bank.

He has since pleaded not guilty to 43 charges, including stealing, fraudulent breach of trust, and money laundering, and has been granted bail.

Addressing the amount of GH¢10 million as the basis for the charge of fraudulent breach of trust under count 26 by the Prosecution, the Witness provided some perspectives.

Referring to the Prosecution’s claim of an attached payment voucher to support its allegation, he said, "a payment like this would be one of the many occasions where BBL receives funds either from TBG or TBB in respect of projects that BBL and its subsidiaries were undertaking on behalf of the bank."

"For me," he said, "it was not an unusual transaction at all. In connection with this particular disbursement, I was able to retrieve the request based upon which this amount was disbursed to BBL."

He supported that with a letter dated February 24, 2017, "in which BBL was asking for funds from the bank in order to be able to deliver on some projects, which I have attached to my present statement."

"The letter specifically makes reference to the Atomic Junction and Dzorwulu projects. I must let the court know that the location stated as Dzorwulu is the same location referred to as Airport West and shown by exhibit 76."

"The letter also stated that BBL was behind schedule on these projects and that they were due for delivery by July 31st, 2017," he explained.

As a point of reference, the Witness said, "TBB [as a universal bank] was launched in December 2017, meanwhile, BBL was to deliver the building before other set-up works could be installed in it by all the other departments that were working together on these projects."

"These offices were all delivered and handed over to the bank long before the bank was placed under receivership. As a matter of fact, the launch of the bank's operations as a universal bank was done at that Airport West property."

"It is for this reason that I say that the amount of GH¢10 million paid to BBL by the bank was part of payments made on account by the bank for projects that were being executed for the benefit of the bank [including these two offices] and all of which projects had been delivered to the bank long before it was placed under receivership," he concluded.

He told the Court that "as far as I was concerned, this transaction was one amongst parties that are related to themselves by way of having a common shareholder."

"They all happened and were documented by officials of the respective institutions, all of whom were acting in their official capacities, including the accused," he explained.

Find attached full Witness Statement of 11th Prosecution Witness