Defunct Beige Bank CEO granted GH¢200 million bail, pleads not guilty

An Accra High Court presided by Justice Afia Asare Botwe has granted bail to CEO of defunct Beige Bank, Michael Nyinaku, who is facing some 43 charges of stealing and money laundering.

Appearing in court on Tuesday, November 11, 2022, Mr Nyinaku pleaded not guilty to all the charges filed against him by the Attorney General.

Deputy Attorney General Alfred Tuah Yeboah informed the court that the accused person caused the transfer of a total of GH¢320 million held in fixed deposit accounts with Beige Bank to Beige Capital Asset Management Limited (BCAM) without the knowledge and consent of the customers.

According to the Deputy Attorney General, this was discovered following investigations into the bank after its license was revoked and placed under receivership by the Bank of Ghana.

“Investigations also revealed that the accused person between the years 2017 and 2018, caused the transfer of 35 fixed investments of 23 customers of Beige Bank totalling GH¢141, 042,348.92 to Beige Group, a company wholly owned by the accused and is the majority shareholder of Beige Bank,” Mr. Yeboah stated.

However, the lawyer for the accused person, Addo Attuah, said the accusations, as outlined by the prosecution, are contrary to the actual state of affairs.

According to the defence, the alleged transactions were simply regular ones which were recorded.

Addo Attuah, therefore, prayed the court to grant his client bail, noting that the accused person has been cooperating with investigators for more than two years.

Justice Afia Asare Botwe, after hearing both arguments, granted the accused person bail in the sum of GH¢200 million with three sureties, two of which must be justified.

The judge further ordered that the valuation of the properties owned by the sureties should be valued by a government valuation body, Land valuation authority and AeSL.

The court ordered that the accused person deposits his passport with the court and report to the prosecutor every Monday and Friday.

The case has been adjourned to December 2022, 2022.

Before adjourning the case, Justice Afia Asare Botwe gave the prosecution a December 9 deadline to file disclosures, failure of which the court will discharge the accused person.

GA/SEA

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