The Accra High Court has sentenced William Ato Essien, the founder of the now-defunct Capital Bank, to 15 years in prison and hard labor for stealing more than GH90 million from the institution.
Mr Essien is the first banking executive to be sentenced to prison as a result of the extensive banking sector clean-up in 2017, which resulted in the failure of seven domestic banks, including Capital Bank.
Dressed in a brown “kaftan” and wearing a nose mask, Mr Essien stood and gave the judge a solemn look when the judge read his marching orders to prison to him yesterday.
“Sheer greed.”
Ato Essien used Capital Bank to his advantage and misappropriated its funds, the court presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour ruled in a ruling. The court also found that Essien failed to take into account the bank’s depositors.
“The convict demonstrated sheer greed in his desire to own another bank besides Capital Bank Ltd and left no stone unturned through subterfuge and deceit with pure criminal intent to set up Sovereign Bank Ltd.
“Being in a position of trust, he was expected to have demonstrated a sense of responsibility and true fidelity. He had no cause, whatsoever, to steal such gargantuan sums of money,” the presiding judge held.
Ato Essien’s sentence was also decided upon, according to Justice Kyei Baffour, a Justice of the Court of Appeal who also serves as a High Court judge, because of the hardships people had to deal with as a result of Capital Bank’s failure. Numerous people kept becoming poor and suffering as a result of this situation.
“I cannot fail to take into account the trail of pain and tears that had been occasioned by the criminal conduct of the convict (Essien). Countless number of innocent citizens lost their jobs and are still job hunting. The nation had to spend huge sums of money to bail the creditors and depositors,” Justice Kyei Baffour ruled.
On December 13, 2022, Mr Essien entered a guilty plea to 16 counts of theft and money laundering after admitting to wasting over GH90 million in liquidity support that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) had provided to Capital Bank.
As a result, the court found him guilty; however, he avoided serving a jail sentence after reaching an agreement with the Attorney-General (A-G) to pay the state GH 90 million in reparation and restitution.
The agreement was made in accordance with Section 35 of the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459), which permits defendants facing trial for causing the state economic loss to admit their guilt and pay the fine in order to potentially avoid going to prison.
Mr Essien paid GH30 million in December of last year and was required to pay the remaining GH60 million under the terms of the court-adopted agreement in three GH20 million installments, with the first payment due no later than April 28, 2023, the second payment due no later than August 31, 2023, and the final installment due no later than December 15, 2023.
Ato Essien risked going to jail if he disregarded the conditions set forth in Section 35 of Act 459, Justice Kyei Baffour ruled after approving the agreement’s implementation.
As a result, it can be said that Ato Essien chose to go to prison when he missed the deadlines for making the agreed-upon payments, causing the A-G to apply to the court under the same Section 35 of Act 459 to sentence him to incarceration.
Mr. Essien had paid only $7 million of a possible $40 million as of Thursday (Oct. 12, 2023) when he was imprisoned, failing to make the agreed-upon installment payments on April 28 and August 31 this year.
He had paid GH37 million of the total GH90 million, leaving GH53 million unpaid.
Custodial Sentence
Joshua Sackey, a senior state attorney, argued that Essien had disregarded the terms of the agreement despite being given numerous chances by the court to pay the money.
The Senior State Attorney stated, “The court should, therefore, impose a custodial sentence on the convict (Essien), given that his conduct is a clear violation of Section 35(7) of Act 459.”.
In response, Essien’s attorney, Baffour Gyaewu Ashie, opposed the application on the grounds that his client had made it clear that he intended to pay the money.
Essien immediately paid GH$30 million in December of last year because, according to counsel, he was willing to make the payment.
Essien was trying his best to pay the money but was having a very difficult time doing so due to circumstances that were out of his control, the attorney continued.
He claimed that after taking steps to sell a $10 million water treatment plant in Prampram, the convict discovered that another party had obtained a judgment debt against that property.
“The convict is not working, and his passport had been seized, making it very difficult for him to raise the money in and outside of Ghana,” the attorney continued.
He begged the judge to give his client up to six months to come up with the cash and make the overdue payment.
Time
In his decision on the Attorney General’s request to sentence the convict to a period of custody, Justice Kyei Baffour found that Essien had been given ample time to fulfill his obligations but had blown the chance by making a number of excuses.
For instance, the court stated that after he missed the April 28 deadline and the A-G submitted the application to impose a custodial sentence in May of this year, the court accepted a plea by Essien to be permitted to sell some properties, including the one at Prampram, to offset the debt.
Essien went ahead and told the court that he was trying to sell the property at Prampram in order to pay his obligation, even though the evidence on record, according to Justice Kyei Baffour, showed that he was aware that it was the subject of litigation.
The court believed that because Essien was not prepared to make the required payment, he must serve the jail sentence outlined in Section 35 of Act 459 in its entirety.
The convict (Essien) was given plenty of time, which only served to demonstrate that he is unable to make the required payment. In fact, the court skipped its scheduled meeting on July 27, 2023, in an unusual show of favor to the convict/respondent, hoping that during the two months of vacation that followed August and September, the convict, if he had the means to pay, would have received money to pay the Republic, Justice Kyei Baffour continued.
Sentence
Essien pleaded guilty to 16 counts of theft, conspiracy to steal, and money laundering, and Justice Kyei Baffour sentenced him to a variety of jail terms after granting the A-G’s request for a custodial sentence and hearing his attorney’s plea of mitigation.
The maximum sentence was 15 years in prison, while the shortest was one year.
The court decided that Essien would serve all of his sentences concurrently, which meant that as he completed the longest sentence of 15 years in prison, he would also be completing the other jail terms.
Essien could reclaim his freedom, according to Justice Kyei Baffour, if the GH53 million unpaid balance is paid.
