How can you blow in tongues and be a thief? – Blakk Rasta mocks Ato Essien over 15-year jail term

Ghanaian musician and radio presenter Blakk Rasta has taken a swipe at embattled former Chief Executive of defunct Capital Bank, William Ato Essien after the businessman was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour.

He indicated that Ato Essien deserves to be jailed for his bad deeds for contributing to the economic mess the nation is grappling with in light of the prevailing circumstances.

The controversial radio personality labelled Ato Essien as a thief after the court probe proved that he was complicit in the charges levelled against him for having stolen from the state.

Speaking on the UrbanBlend Show, which GhanaWeb monitored, Blakk Rasta bemoaned why an individual who is known to be a staunch Christian involves himself in such a heinous crime while Ghanaians are suffering.

“So anywhere you see him [Ato Essien], you can call him a thief. The court says he's a thief. He stole GH¢90 million at the time that Ghana was going through hell; at the time people were squeezing our necks and breathing hell, stone, and fire on us, these people demonstrated nothing but wickedness, nonchalance, and selfishness,” he said.

Blakk Rasta further added, “On a very good day, you see him wearing his suit. The suit is from people's money stolen on a good day. He's sitting at Movenpick [hotel] with his girlfriend, drinking things that we can't even mention because the price is so exorbitant.

"Right after that, on Sunday, he is a church elder, and he's blowing tongues. These are the people collapsing the nation.”

William Ato Essien was sentenced on October 12, 2023, to 15 years' imprisonment with hard labour.

His sentence came after he failed to pay GH¢90 million to the state as directed by the court.

Per the High Court's judgment, he was supposed to have paid GH¢20 million of the GH¢60 million restitution by April 28, 2023, and pay the rest by the end of December 2023.

The Court, presided over by Justice Kyei Baffour, a Court of Appeal Judge who sat as an additional High Court Judge accepted the terms of the settlement filed by the Attorney-General and Ato Essien.

It would be recalled that the former CEO of Capital Bank was convicted on his own plea after striking a deal with the state under Section 35 of the Courts Act.

Section 35 of the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459) allows an accused person to plead guilty and pay restitution to the state in cases in which there has been a financial loss to the state.

The move was for him [Ato Essien] to avoid a custodial sentence.

However, he failed to honour his due.

Essien was convicted of stealing over GH¢90 million of the Bank of Ghana’s liquidity support from the then-Capital Bank.

SB/BB

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