William Ato Essien, the founder of the now-defunct Capital Bank, was given a 15-year prison sentence by the Accra High Court for stealing more than Ghc90 million from the institution.
Essien, who was found guilty of stealing more than GHC90 million from Capital Bank in December of last year, was spared a jail term after the court accepted an arrangement between him and the Attorney-General (A-G) for him to pay the GHC90 million in restitution to the state.
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Essien has failed to pay the state's reparation in accordance with the provisions set forth in the agreement with the A-G, the court, presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, ruled this afternoon.
The arrangement was made in accordance with Section 35 of the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459), which permits defendants facing trial for causing the state financial loss to pay the money and maybe avoid serving time in prison. Essien paid GH30,000,000 of the total on December 1, 2022, and was required by the court-adopted agreement to pay the remaining GH60,000,000 in three installments, with the first installment due no later than April 28, 2023, the second on no later than August 31, 2023, and the final installment due no later than December 15, 2023.
Although Essien missed the dates of April 28 and August 31, Justice Kyei Baffour stated that as of today, Essien has paid just GHC7 million out of a possible GHC40 million, bringing the total paid to GHC37 million of the total GHC90 million.
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