Dr. Dominic Ayine and Dr. Kwabena Duffuor
The Attorney General (AG) and Minister for Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, has entered nolle prosequi in the trial of the founder of uniBank Ghana Limited, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and seven others for their role in the collapse of the bank.
This, according to a statement issued by Deputy Attorney General, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, followed a significant 60% recovery of the total money lost through the actions of the accused persons.
Justice Srem-Sai, however, indicated that the decision to drop the charges against them “does not imply an absence of wrongdoing nor a vindication of any conduct. It is a pragmatic step in line with the overarching national interest of recovering state resources.”
A nolle prosequi refers to a prosecutor’s decision to discontinue a criminal case. This action effectively halts the prosecution’s pursuit of charges against the defendant. It is not an acquittal hence the case can be reopened.
Trial
Dr. Duffuor and eight others were standing trial before a High Court in Accra for their alleged ‘dishonest’ spending of over GH¢5.7 billion belonging to customers and investors of the insolvent private bank, now defunct.
Apart from Dr. Duffuor, the former 2nd Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama, now the Governor of Bank of Ghana; Kwabena Duffuor II, Ekow Nyarko Dadzie-Dennis, Elsie Dansoa Kyereh, Jeffrey Amon, Benjamin Ofori, and Kwadwo Opoku Okoh were all on trial.
They were facing a total of 68 charges including fraudulent transactions and money laundering. They all pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail.
UniBank Ghana Limited, a private bank founded by Dr. Duffuor who once served as Governor of the Bank of Ghana, was one of the insolvent financial institutions that was closed down by the government during the banking sector clean-up exercise between 2017 and 2018.
The fact sheet presented at the beginning of the trial had indicated that UniBank went into official administration on March 20, 2018 and was placed in receivership on August 1, 2018.
It said KPMG, the Official Administrator, in the course of its duties discovered that about GH¢5.7 billion had become due from shareholders of uniBank as of March 20, 2018, but no security nor proper credit arrangements were made for the payment of the amount which remains unpaid.
Dr. Asiama
In January this year, the Attorney General withdrew all charges against Dr. Johnson Asiama, for his alleged role in the collapse of UT Bank and uniBank.
Dr. Asiama had been charged alongside Dr. Kwabena Duffuor over alleged ‘dishonest’ spending of funds belonging to customers and investors of the defunct bank.
Few days later, he was nominated by President John Mahama as Governor of Bank of Ghana, and has since been serving in that capacity.
Duffuor, 7 Others
The Attorney General has now dropped the charges against the remaining eight (8) individuals who have been implicated in the loss of customers’ fund and the eventual collapse of the bank.
Justice Srem-Sai, in a statement, indicated that the central objective of the prosecutions in the trial has been to ensure accountability for public funds and, more importantly, to recover losses occasioned to the state through various alleged acts of financial impropriety.
“Kwabena Duffour & 7 Others case have met this recovery threshold. Accordingly, in furtherance of public interest, and considering the significant recoveries made for the State, the Honourable Attorney-General has satisfied himself that continuing with the prosecution will not serve any additional public purpose,” the statement said.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak