Court clears second and third accused persons in the case of Ato Essien

The Accra High Court has cleared and freed two defendants who were on trial with William Ato Essien, the founder of the now-defunct Capital Bank.

Fitzgerald Odonkor, the bank’s managing director (MD), and Tettey Nettey, the MD of MC Management Services, a business allegedly controlled by Ato Essien, are the two.

The court reports that the second and third accused parties were cleared and released after being found not guilty of the charges brought against them.

The two accused—Fitzgerald Odonkor and Tettey Nettey—were utilized by Ato Essien without their knowledge, according to the presiding judge, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour.

On the other hand, William Ato Essien, the founder of the now-defunct Capital bank, pled guilty to accusations of misappropriating depositors’ monies as well as additional counts of stealing, including money laundering and aiding and abetting theft.

This came after the court approved the conditions of the settlement struck between Mr. Essien’s attorneys and the prosecution, which called for the payment of a total of GH$90,000,000 in refunds to the state.

As per the parties’ agreement, he was later found guilty of the charge on the basis of his own plea.

Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, Deputy Attorney General, spoke for the prosecution and outlined how they arrived at the GH90 million figure to the judge.

According to him, investigations conducted by the state showed that some GH¢65 million and GH¢35 million belonging to Capital Bank were used by another company; Capital African Group, to acquire shares in Capital Bank.
The prosecution said that after discovering this through its investigations, the share purchase was cancelled and Capital Bank kept the funds.

The share transaction was cancelled and the money was kept since these sums were included in the about GH 192 million in charges against the accused people.

The prosecution further stated that the combined sum from these two transactions was Gh100,000,000; hence, Gh92,000,000 is presently due out of Gh192,000,000.

The three were hit with a total of 23 offenses, including theft, aiding theft, conspiracy to steal, and money laundering.

Source: Ghanatodayonline.com