Court documents: How Beige bank founder created GH¢340m secret account and splashed the cash
Founder of defunct The Beige Bank, Michael Nyinaku, sat on a GH¢340m hidden bank account in breach of banking regulations, court documents have revealed.
The secret account named First African Savings and Loans (FASL) was lodged at the Consolidated Bank of Ghana which took over The Beige Bank (TTB) in August 2018.
On the blind side of the regulator, the motivational speaker who is in police custody began splashing the cash around companies and organisations he controlled.
Beige Academy got GH¢250, 000, Beige Capital, GH¢2.2million while his philanthropic organization Beige Care had GH¢392, 000.
A total of GH¢21million was transferred to affiliate groups while customers of his defunct bank grew anxious about the security of their deposits and investments.
The Bank of Ghana regulations requires banking transactions to be declared and reported.
Investigators are still scratching their heads to ascertain the sources of the funds dumped in what has been called a ‘false account’.
Court documents show that TBB had agreed to acquire 90 per cent of stake in First Allied Savings and Loans company managed by businesswoman Gifty Afenyi Dadzie.
As a subsidiary of The Beige Group, FASL had to open an account with The Beige Bank which was done.
But unknown to Ms Dadzie, another FASL account was created on the instructions of the entrepreneur using his assigns at TBB.
But TTB’s licence was revoked by the Bank of Ghana in August 2018 and lumped with other failed banks to create the Consolidated Bank of Ghana.
With the ‘false’ FASL account now at CBG, Michael Nyinaku using his agents requested the new bank to transfer over GH¢38m to Beige Capital Assets Management Ltd.
That request on August 8, 2018, was brought to the attention of Gifty Afenyi Dadzie who could not believe that account could have such monies.
She flagged it. It triggered a new wave of investigations and Michael Nyinaku was charged with stealing and money laundering.
Nyinaku is already before the Accra High Court where the state is seeking to retrieve GH¢ 1.3 billion from him.
This issue the officer who approved the transaction should be prosecuted first
Well well well, the chickens are finally coming home to roost. Indeed, all that glitters may not necessarily be gold.