William Ato Essien, the disgraced founder and former CEO of the now-defunct Capital Bank, has made a last-ditch effort to escape going to prison by paying GH4 million instead of the GH20 million he was supposed to pay by April 28, 2023.
A request by the Attorney General seeking the Accra High Court to imprison him for failing to pay the GH20 million stipulated in an arrangement that spared him jail after pleading guilty to stealing from the bank that has since gone out of business has also been challenged by him.
In his plea, Mr. Essien essentially begs the court not to sentence him to a term of confinement because his failure to pay the GH20 million was not planned but largely brought about by the nation's economic distress.
According to his affidavit in support of the motion, he claimed that one of the reasons he was unable to pay the agreed-upon sum was because he was unable to travel to take advantage of business possibilities because he was unable to get the court to grant him the release of his passport.
The fact that some of the local business opportunities he pursued either failed to materialize or have come to a standstill as a result of the catastrophic economic and financial conditions in the nation is another justification he is using to persuade the court not to arrest him.
He contends that the court should not sentence him to incarceration since doing so would be unjust and counterproductive to the interests of justice.
Additionally, he contends that a jail term would be unfair and violate the rule that no one should be sentenced before receiving a hearing because he had already paid more than one-third of the agreed-upon sum.
Mr. Essien was on trial for stealing from the GH 620 million in liquidity support provided to the ailing bank in 2015, which caused it to become insolvent and eventually fail, but he was able to avoid jail time by coming to an arrangement with the Office of the Attorney General to plead guilty.
He was required by the agreement to pay GH30 million by December 1, 2022, but he has already done so.
The remaining GH60 million will thereafter be paid in three equal payments of GH20 million each, with the first installment due on April 28, 2023, the second on August 31, 2023, and the last payment due on December 15, 2023.
Ato Essien must pay the entire GH60 million or be arrested and brought before the High Court, the court, presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, a Court of Appeal judge sitting as an additional High Court judge, had added. If Ato Essien fails to pay the next installment in full on or before April 28, 2023, the agreement is void.