Former Chief Executive Officer of defunct Capital Bank, William Ato Essien, has been making headlines following news of his jail sentence.

The former CEO, Ato Essien was sentenced to a 15-year jail term over his failure to live up to the agreement to pay back GH¢ 90 Million belonging to the bank.

In a ruling today, October 12, 2023, the court, presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, held that Ato Essien failed to pay the restitution to the state per the agreed terms with the Attorney General.

After the news of his sentence broke, an old video that captured him in a moment of intense prayer resurfaced on social media.

The video of the former CEO who was speaking in an interview on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana, captured him passionately engaging in fervent prayer while speaking in tongues.

The former CEO, after he was found guilty of 23 counts of conspiracy, stealing from liquidity support given to the Capital Bank, paid about GH¢30 million of the total amount, GH¢ 90 Million, as of December 1, 2022.

As per the agreement adopted by the court, he was ordered to pay the remaining GH¢60 million in three instalments with the first instalment on or before April 28, 2023, the second on or before August 31, 2023, and the last instalment on or before December 15, 2023.

However, at the time the judge, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, was pronouncing his judgement, Ato Essien had paid only GH¢ 7 million out of a possible GH¢ 40 million, missing the deadlines for April 28 and August 31 this year, bring the total paid to Ghc 37 million of the total GH¢ 90 million.

Background

In December, 2022, William Ato Essien pleaded guilty to charges of misappropriation of depositors' funds and other counts of stealing, abetment to stealing, conspiracy to steal and money laundering among others.

As a result, he pleaded with the court to give him an opportunity to explain himself should he fail to pay GH¢20 million to the state by April 28, 2023 rather than jail him.

After the court accepted the terms of the agreement reached between the lawyers of Ato Essien and the prosecution to pay a total of GH¢90 million as a refund to the state.

Per the judge’s order, he was required to pay an amount of GH¢90 million as restitution and reparation to the state within one year. This would see him pay an initial GH¢30 million (which has been paid) and refund the remaining GH¢ 60 million in three instalments. The first is due latest by April 28, 2023 while the second is on August 31, 2023.

Justice Baffuor warned should he default in the payment or it even fell short of the required amount, Ato Essien was to be arrested and produced in court for a custodial sentence to be imposed.

But Mr. Essien in a “fresh court document however points out that current economic challenges make it imperative for him to be given the opportunity to explain a default before any such move is undertaken,” My joyonline.com stated.


Capital Bank was one of the first banks that collapsed after a massive clean-up of financial institutions by the Bank of Ghana started in 2017.

On August 14, 2017, its licence and that of UT Bank were revoked by the BoG, after the BoG had declared them insolvent.

The BoG allowed the state-owned bank, the GCB Bank, to acquire the two banks in order to protect depositors’ funds and also enable them to stay afloat.

Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.



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