Ato Essien
Founder and former Chief Executive Officer of defunct Capital Bank, William Ato Essien, was yesterday handed a total of 95 years imprisonment in hard labour for stealing from the bank, which eventually led to its collapse.
He would, however, spend 15 years in prison as the total sentences on the 16 charges he pleaded guilty are to run concurrently.
The convict, who had earlier pleaded guilty to 16 counts of conspiracy to steal, stealing and money laundering, barely escaped prison due to an agreement he had with the Office of the Attorney General under Section 35 of the Courts Act to refund the GH¢90 million he stole from the bank.
Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, a Justice of the Court of Appeal sitting as an additional High Court judge, in handing the sentence yesterday indicated that Mr. Essien’s crime could not “be seen as one of the many stealing cases” as the thefts were executed in an opportunistic manner.
“He demonstrated shear greed in his desire to own another bank – Sovereign Bank aside Capital Bank, and the huge sums of money involved were taken from Capital Bank in a manner that led to its collapse,” the judge held in his decision.
The imposition of the custodial sentence followed an application by the Office of the Attorney General which urged the court to jail the convict who had failed to honour his agreement with the state to refund the money he stole within a specified time.
Agreement
Mr. Essien was dragged before the court on October 15, 2019, for stealing from the GH¢620 million liquidity support given to the struggling bank in 2015, which led to its insolvency and subsequent collapse.
Per the agreement with the Office of the Attorney General which had kept him out of jail since December last year, he was to pay an amount of GH¢30 million by December 1, 2022, which had already been paid.
He will then pay the remaining GH¢60 million in three installments of GH¢20 million each, with the first installment scheduled to be paid on April 28, 2023, the second one on August 31, 2023, and the last on December 15, 2023.
The court had added that a failure by Ato Essien to pay the next installment in full on or before April 28, 2023, nullified the agreement and he should be arrested and brought before the court for him to be committed to prison.
The court also prohibited him from being appointed the director of any bank, financial institution or deposit-taking institution.
He has since been able to pay only GH¢7 million in spite of the court giving him several opportunities to raise funds and pay off the outstanding GH¢53 million.
Motion
Joshua Sackey, a Senior State Attorney, yesterday moved an application which was filed as far back as May 2, 2023, before the court and urged it to impose custodial sentence on Mr. Essien as he has “failed to abide by the terms of the agreement and this honourable court has granted him several opportunities to make payments as they felt due to no avail.”
He said by the convict’s showing, it was clear that he would not be able to raise the outstanding amount in fulfillment of his obligation to the state.
The application was opposed by Baffour Gyawu Bonsu Ashia, counsel for the convict, who argued that it was premature and failed to properly invoke the jurisdiction of the court.
He said the convict had demonstrated to the court that if the court should lean towards him and afford him the opportunity, he would be able to pay the outstanding sum.
“The spirit and purpose of section 35:7 of the Courts Act would be completely undermined if the court were to proceed and pass custodial sentence on the convict, especially when the convict has made payments amounting to GH¢37 million. It will again undermine the efforts being made by the convict,” Mr. Ashia told the court.
Ruling
Justice Kyei Baffour, in his ruling on the application, noted that he did not agree with the claim that the application was premature as it could not be denied that the payment that was due has long elapsed, and same has not been paid to the state.
He said Ato Essien only pleaded guilty to the charges after wasting the court’s time for three years and caused the state to call 17 witnesses in the trial.
The judge also held that countless number of innocent citizens lost their jobs and are still job hunting, adding that huge sums of money had to be spent by the state to repay the customers of the defunct bank.
He, therefore, sentenced Mr. Essien to a total of 95 years on the 16 counts, ranging between two and 15 years in hard labour. He would serve 15 years in prison.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak