Capital Bank Case: Ato Essien jailed 15 years

High Court presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, a Court of Appeal Judge sitting with added responsibility as a High Court Judge, has sentenced convict William Ato Essien, former chief executive officer of defunct Capital Bank, to 15 years in prison for his failure to meet the terms of an initial agreement he reached with the Attorney General.
The Attorney General dragged Ato Essien back to court, praying the judge to impose custodial sentence on the convicted for failing to comply with the payment terms he reached with the state after his conviction. Essien paid GHC30 million out of the GHC90 million upfront and agreed to pay the remaining GHC60 million in three instalments, the first being due on 28 April 2023.
However, the convict failed to make good the first instalment of GHC20 million on the agreed date. His failure to abide by the terms of the settlement necessitated the action by the Attorney General, praying the court to commit Essien into prison custody, in line with the provisions of Section 35 (7) of the Courts Act (1993) Act 459, which states;
“Where a person convicted under this section defaults in the payment of any money required of the person under this section or fails to fulfil any condition imposed by the Court under subsection (6), any amount outstanding shall become due and payable and upon failure to make the payment, the court shall proceed to pass a custodial sentence on the accused,“.
In court
When the court constituted today 12 October 2023, Baffour Gyau Bonsu Ashia, lawyer for William Ato Essien told the court that his client has not been able to pay the agreed sum yet and that he will require some more time to be able to make good his promise.
“My Lord, we have not been able to pay the agreed sums. At the last two sittings a letter had been written from the office of Robert Akya informing the court that they have gotten a judgement against Essien Swiss international for which reason they had an interest in the proprieties which Essien Swiss had assigned to Panarico company limited.
“We took steps and realised that it is true that the had secured judgement against Essien Swiss. This piece of information forced Panarico to cease payment as agreed under the sale of assets agreement between Essien Swiss and Panarico Co. Ltd.
“My instructions are that steps were taken to engage Kuy travel and tour, the creditor to relative the issue. As I speak there is an appeal pending against the judgment of the high court.
“It is our humble prayer that because of the steps which the convict has taken to pay more than one-third of the money so far, the court should indulge us and grants us more time in order to pay the outstanding. We are not taking advantage of the leniency showed us by the court. It is because of the practical challenges faced by the convict” Baffour Gyau Bonsu Ashia said in court.
By court
Justice Eric Kyei Baffour’s Court after hearing the parties, ruled that looking at all that has transpired the whole of the previous legal year and through out the vacation, the court has concluded that the convict (Ato Essien) is not in the position to make any further payment apart from the GHc 37 million that has been paid out of the GHc 90 million agreed upon .
“The court did not sit for two months and the convict if he was in the position to pay any extra amounts, would have done so. The convict pleaded guilty to all 16 counts of conspiracy to steal, stealing and money laundering. The huge sums of money involved were taken from capital bank in a manner that led to its collapse.
“These monies taken from the bank cannot be seen as one of the many stealing cases. They were executed as an opportunistic theft. He (Ato Essien) demonstrated shear greed in his desire to own another bank, Sovereign Bank aside Capital Bank.
“The court is not unaware that an amount of 37 million has been refunded to the Republic after conviction. He pleaded guilty after he wasted the courts time after three years and causes the Republic to parade 17 witnesses.
“Countless number of innocent citizens lost their jobs and are still job hunting. Huge sums of money had to be spent by the Republic to repay the customers of the bank.
In light of this, I impose custodial sentence on the accused as follows; Conspiracy to steal GHc 100 million cedis, 10 years (in hard labour (IHL), stealing GHc 100 million, 15years IHL, money laundering of GHc 100 million 4 years IHL, conspiracy to steal GHc 30 million 10 years IHL, stealing GHc 30 million 10years IHL, money laundering, 2 years IHL, stealing of 35 million, 11 years IHL, stealing of GHc 2 million, 2 years IHL, stealing GHc 12 million, 8 years IHL, money laundering, 2 years in IHL, stealing of GHC 8.5 million, 7years IHL, money laundering, 2 years in IHL. All the the sentences imposed by the court are to run concurrently” Justice Eric Kyei Baffour’s court ruled.