General News of Sunday, 15 October 2023

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Mensa Otabil has questions to answer in Capital Bank collapse - Martin Kpebu

Pastor Mensa Otabil Pastor Mensa Otabil

Lawyer Martin Kpebu has stated that board chairman of defunct Capital Bank, Pastor Mensa Otabil, has questions to answer in how the bank eventually failed.

He avers that the Capital Bank case which recently led to the incarceration of founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ato Essien; has to be looked at in terms of the role the bank's board played.

In his view, Essien as the CEO could not have stolen the GH¢90m he was convicted for while the board chairman and board members answer no questions.

“We didn’t do enough forensic investigation into this matter, because if you look at the monies involved, the board chairman cannot be excluded.

“So I think we didn’t do a good investigation on the matter. This money is too colossal for us to say that the board chair does not have a question to answer,” he submitted on TV3 on Saturday, October 14.

On Essien's 15-year jail term, after failing to abide by a plea bargaining timeline to return funds to the state, Kpebu said the sentence was not enough.

He maintained that all persons involved in the case should be prosecuted equally.

The Capital Bank board before collapse comprised of Mensa Otabil as chairman; Rev. Fitzgerald Odonkor as chief executive officer, William Ato Essien (Founder), Mr. Kofi Kwakwa (Director), Mrs. Frances Adu-Mante (Director), Alhaji Amadu Montia (Director).

Deputy Attorney-General Alfred Tuah-Yeboah explained that Otabil was investigated but enough evidence was not adduced to press charges against him.

He, however, stated that the said investigation is still active.

Read the full ruling of the court below: