Mr. Alfred Tuah Yeboah, Deputy Attorney General, has disclosed that the office of the Attorney-General has not been compromised in the trial of the founder of the inoperative Capital Bank, Mr. William Ato Essien.
The Presiding judge in the trial, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, had rejected the term of settlement reached between state prosecutors and Mr. Ato Essien, on the basis that the law that the accused based their agreed settlement on, does not apply to the instant case, and may therefore make crimes attractive. However Mr Yeboah opined that it may appear the state had been compromised.
Speaking in an interview, the Deputy Attorney General noted that the statement made by the judge was untrue. He stated that he disagrees with the judge that the proposed settlement will make crime attractive.
“I would like to place it on record that the Attorney-General’ s office has never been compromised in this matter. We will never be compromised in this matter and is not prepared to be compromised in any other way.”
Mr Yeboah
Mr. Yeboah explained the GH$90 million agreed settlement was reached after a long negotiation between the state and the accused.
The Deputy Attorney General stated that various amounts proposed by Ato Essien and his lawyers had been rejected by the state prosecutors till the GH$90 million agreement was proposed and agreed upon by state prosecutors after taking several issues into keen consideration. He opined that the GH$90 million was the best bet for the country.
Mr. Yeboah explained that previous experiences have informed his office to always pursue innovative ways to collect state monies from culprits before other punishments are meted out. He stated that the approach his office used was not as simple as it seems, because it still limited the accused from occupying some positions.
Meanwhile, Justice Kyei Baffour suggested that even if the court agrees to the agreed settlement, Ato Essien should be made to pay the agreed amount at the current exchange rate with interest and not pay the same amount, which has devalued.
Why Ato Essien Is In Court
Mr. Essien is standing trial together with the formal Managing Director of the Bank, Rev. Fitzgerald Odonkor, and a formal Managing Director of MC Management Service, Tetteh Nettey, also owned by Mr. Ato Essien.
Together, they were tried on 23 counts of criminality, including conspiracy to steal and stealing in connection with the collapse of Capital Bank in 2017.
They however pleaded not guilty to the charges and maintained their innocence all throughout the trial, with Mr. Ato Essien maintaining at all material moments that he had Board approval for all actions he took.
At the moment, the high court presided by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour has rejected a settlement deal between state prosecutors and embattled Ato Essien.
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