Ato Essien willing to refund GH¢27.5m to the state

The legal counsel for William Ato Essien,  accused of collapsing his bank, Capital Bank, have indicated their client wants to refund GH¢27.5 million to the state.

At his trial at the Accra High Court on Thursday, counsel for the former CEO said already, his client has paid back GH¢1.4 million.

The amount he wants to refund represented the amount used by the erstwhile bank for business promotion after it received support from the Bank of Ghana.

Counsel for Essien, Mr Baffour Gyewu Bonsu, indicated his client is in talks with his prosecution to finalise the plans for the refund, a claim confirmed by a Chief State Attorney, Mrs Mariana Appiah Oppong.

On this basis, he asked the court to adjourn.

Justice Eric Kyei-Baffour, who presided over the case gave a one-month ultimatum to Mr. Essien’s counsel to present their proposal to the Director of Public Prosecution.

The case was adjourned to June 18, 2020.

The DPP would have determined whether the proposal was good enough and report to the court, the judge directed.

Ato Essien’s legal counsel hopes to get some of the charges dropped as their client cooperates with the state.

State charges Ato Essien, 3 others over collapse of Capital Bank

Founder of the defunct Capital Bank, William Ato Essien and three others have been slapped with twenty six (26) charges for their roles leading to the collapse of the financial institution.

The three other persons are Tetteh Nettey, Fitzgerald Odonkor and Kate Quartey-Papafio -who all served as executives of the bank.