The founder of the collapsed Capital Bank, William Ato Essien, was unable to persuade the High Court in Accra to change the conditions of a GH$60 million compensation to the state.
Yesterday, Essien's plea to renegotiate the terms of the settlement and for the court to postpone any action that would result in his incarceration was denied by the court, which was presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, a Justice of the Court of Appeal serving as a High Court judge.
In making his decision, Justice Kyei Baffour determined that the convict's request lacked merit and dismissed it.
Agreement
Essien entered a guilty plea to 16 charges of theft and money laundering on December 13 of last year.
were found guilty of stealing and losing approximately GH90 million in liquidity support that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) had provided to the Capital Bank.
However, the court approved an arrangement between the defendant and the Attorney-General (A-G) for him (Essien) to pay the GH90 million as restitution to the state, preventing the prisoner from receiving a jail term.
The arrangement was made in accordance with Section 35 of the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459), which permits defendants facing trial for causing the state financial loss to pay the money and maybe avoid serving time in prison.
Essien paid GH30,000,000 of the total and was mandated by the court to pay the remaining GH60,000,000 in three payments, with the first installment due on or before
The first installment is due on April 28, 2023; the second by August 31, 2023; and the last payment is due on December 15, 2023.
According to Justice Kyei Baffour's decision and Section 35(7) of Act 459, Essien would be put in jail if he failed to make any of the agreed-upon payments.
The inmate missed the deadline of April 28, which forced the attorney general to submit a request asking the court to imprison him.
Paying in part
Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, a deputy attorney general, revealed before the court yesterday that Essien chose to pay GH4 million on May 10 rather than GH20 million on April 28.
Thaddeus Sory, Essien's attorney, promised the court that his client had a check for GH1,000,000 ready to be given to the state.
Because the prisoner had not yet served the A-G with his affidavit in response to the motion, the court did not hear the A-G's move demanding Essien's detention yesterday.
The court consequently chose to consider Essien's plea, asking it to halt any actions that would result in his imprisonment and grant him the right to renegotiate the terms of the agreement.
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