William Ato Essien, the founder of the now-defunct Capital bank, pled guilty to accusations of misappropriating depositors’ funds as well as further counts of stealing, aiding in stealing, conspiring to steal, and money laundering.
After the court approved the terms of the settlement struck between Mr. Essien’s attorneys and the prosecution, the state received a reimbursement of 90 million cedis.
Ato Essien is on trial alongside Tettey Nettey, the MD of MC Management Services, a business that is rumored to be owned by Essien, and Fitzgerald Odonkor, the MD of the bank that went out of business.
The prosecution has charged the three people with committing a number of crimes that caused a portion of the GH620 million in liquidity support provided by the BoG to the Capital Bank between June 2015 and November 2016 to be lost.
Prior to this, the defendants had entered not guilty pleas to 23 offenses, including theft, aiding theft, conspiracy to steal, and money laundering.
All throughout the trial, they insisted on their innocence, with Ato Essien insisting at all crucial junctures that he received Board consent for all of his acts.