William Ato Essien, the founder of the now-defunct Capital Bank, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison by an Accra High Court. He was convicted of embezzling over GH¢90 million of liquidity support provided by the Bank of Ghana to the defunct financial institution.
Essien had initially agreed to repay the misappropriated funds but failed to do so despite multiple opportunities. In December 2022, he made an upfront payment of ¢30 million and was supposed to pay ¢20 million as the first instalment of the remaining ¢60 million by April 28, 2023. However, he could only manage to pay ¢5 million. A further deadline in May to liquidate his assets and pay ¢55 million to the state passed without any payments.
A major condition of the agreement was that the court would not hesitate to impose a custodial sentence if he missed any of the payment deadlines.
As a result, the state submitted a request to the court, seeking a custodial sentence in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, at the request of the convict’s lawyer, deferred the hearing of the application for a custodial sentence. Mr Essien was subsequently given six months to redeem himself.
But between January this year to October 12, Ato Essien has only paid GH¢7 million in addition to the GH¢30 million previously paid.
With GH¢53 million of the agreed sum outstanding, the judge having exhausted his patience allowed the state to move the application.
The judge upon hearing the application jailed Ato Essien to spend 15 years in prison.
This case stems from the collapse of Capital Bank, and the charges against William Ato Essien, Rev. Fitzgerald Odonkor, and Tetteh Nettey, a former Managing Director of MC Management Service owned by Essien. They were charged with 23 counts of conspiracy and stealing from the ¢620 million liquidity support provided by the Bank of Ghana to help the bank manage its maturing debt.
Ato Essien pleaded guilty to 16 counts of stealing, money laundering and conspiracy to steal for his role in the collapse of Capital Bank.
He however entered a plea bargain with the state under section 35(7) of the courts ACT 459.
The prosecution alleged that the accused individuals had opened various bank accounts with Capital Bank through which the ¢620 million Bank of Ghana liquidity support was transferred, while others were carried in jute bags to Ato Essien.
Hmm Ghana