On Monday, April 17, 2023, a new prosecution witness will enter the witness stand to give testimony before the high court in the trial of Mike Nyinaku, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the former Beige Bank.
The first prosecution witness, Julius Ayivor, concluded his evidence on Monday, April 3, in the courtroom presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe.
Money cow
In his summary, Mr. Ayivor claimed that Nyinaku and his several enterprises, including The Beige Group Limited, had transformed the Beige Bank into a "Cash Cow" where depositor money was syphoned off.
The hearings were focused on one of the prosecution's cases involving a total of GH141 million that was allegedly stolen from the accounts of 23 clients of the defunct Beige Bank. The witness said that the money was diverted to Beige Group Limited, which is completely controlled by the defendant.
In Mr. Ayivor's testimony, two clients—Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited and Ernest & Barbs Construction Limited—were named as examples of the 23 clients that were impacted.
The witness said that GH17 million from Ernest & Barbs' account was syphoned off in January 2018, and GH20 million was syphoned out of Tobinco's account in March 2018, both to the advantage of the accused and his business, The Beige Group Limited.
Consent
Thaddeus Sory, the attorney representing Nyinaku, stated during the witness' cross-examination that the prosecution's evidence showed that the consumers whose cash was allegedly syphoned off were the ones who did it. From their accounts, they were aware that their money was being sent to The Beige Group Limited, and they actually authorized the payments.
Mr. Sory questioned the receiver, "As the receiver who investigated, did you find out if those customers were specifically targeted or if there was a special reason why their deposits were the subject of the transfers to The Beige Group Limited?"
"I don't know if they [the affected customers] were specifically targeted or if there was a special reason that necessitated the syphoning of their funds," Mr. Ayivor replied in response to the question.
"What is evident from the grand scheme that the accused person engaged in is that once he noticed that the clients had a large amount of money in their accounts, that became an opportunity for the accused," The witness was then informed by Mr. Sory that the clients' monies were only moved to The Beige Group Limited after their approval of the transactions.
Mr. Ayivor, who objected to that idea, responded, "My Lady, it is obviously false."
The Beige Group Limited, a limited liability company, is not authorized to accept deposits or conduct banking or fund management operations.
Therefore, none of the impacted clients could possibly have authorized the transfer of their money to The Beige Group Limited.
The Beige Group Limited is only a holding company tasked with overseeing businesses held by the defendant and The Beige Group Limited.
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