The Accra High Court has given William Ato Essien, the founder of the now-defunct Capital Bank, until July 4 of this year to pay the state's GH55 million compensation.
If he doesn't make the restitution by the specified deadline, he can end up in jail.tre
Essien, a prisoner, was ordered to pay the state GH $60 million in reparations over three installments of GH $20 million, but he missed the April 28 deadline and paid GH $5 million on May 10.
The court, presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, made the decision to defer the case to July 4 in order to show mercy to Essien at the hearing yesterday.
Because the criminal missed the April 28 deadline for the first installment, the Attorney-General (AG) is requesting that he be imprisoned.
After Essien testified in his affidavit in response to the Attorney General's motion that he anticipated receiving some money by the end of June to allow him to pay the restitution, Justice Kyei Baffour, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, acting as a High Court judge, decided to grant Essien a grace period.
Essien was cautioned by Justice Kyei Baffour that if the money was not paid by the next postponed date, the court would not be likely to be lenient once again and would instead decide whether to grant the A-G's request that the offender be imprisoned.
Justice Kyei Baffour stated, "If we return on July 4th and you have not paid the money, I would permit the Republic to move the application, and then we would all know that I had been as fair as possible.
a sale of assets
In his testimony in opposition to the A-G's application, Essien testified that his firm, Essien Swiss International Holdings, had agreed to transfer part of its assets to another firm, with the next payment from the buyer allegedly due by the end of June.
Essien claimed that he anticipated receiving roughly $300,000 from that specific payment.
Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, a deputy attorney general, reminded the court that $300,000 is equivalent to about GH3.6 million, which, when combined with the GH5 million,
Essien owes GH55 million, which cannot be satisfied with the $1 million previously paid by the inmate.
Essien's attorney, Baffour Gyewu Bonsu Ashia, who also served as Thaddeus Sory's briefholder, told the court that his client was also making additional efforts to get the funds necessary to pay the restitution in addition to selling the properties.
Justice Kyei Baffour ruled that even though he was prepared to let the prosecution move the application and then issue a decision on it, he chose to grant the applicant a grace period since Essien stated in his deposition that he anticipated receiving some money by June.
The presiding judge stated that the next hearing will determine if Essien's depositions were truthful. "If indeed the depositions in the affidavits have been made bona fide, time will vindicate that," the judge said, adding the postponed date.
Agreement
Essien admitted guilt to 16 charges of theft and money laundering on December 13 of last year. As a result, he was found guilty of stealing and misappropriating almost GH90 million in liquidity assistance 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 in court facing charges of causing the state financial damage to pay the money, and Essien contributed GH$30 million to the total and was required by the court-adopted agreement to pay the remaining GH$60 million in three installments, with the first installment due no later than April 28, 2023, the second no later than August 31, 2023, and the final installment no later than 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.
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