Deputy Attorney-General, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah has affirmed that the state will continue to pursue Ato Essien, the former CEO of the defunct Capital Bank, even after he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Mr. Tuah-Yeboah stated unequivocally that the state aims to confiscate the former CEO’s immediate properties in order to reclaim a share of the GH53 million he still owes the state.
Mr. Tuah-Yeboah stated that Ato Essien’s 15-year sentence with hard labour did not absolve him of his financial commitments to the state.
“Even if he serves this sentence, the state will still pursue him and collect the remaining amount, so it’s not as if he’ll serve his sentence and then the amount will be forfeited.” “We’re going to track down his encumbered properties and pursue them in civil court,” Tuah-Yeboah said on Accra-based television, Citi TV.
Mr. Tuah-Yeboah revealed that the state has entered into a payment agreement with Mr. Essien under the condition that he reimburse the GH60 million owing.
Unfortunately, Mr Essien breached this agreement by just paying GH37 million at his sentencing on Thursday.
“The state was able to recover GH37 million from the convict, and he is also serving a fifty-year sentence. Perhaps if he had not refunded the GH37 million, he would have received a harsher sentence, but as far as we are concerned.”
“We entered into this agreement with him under Section 35 with the understanding that he goes by the terms of the agreement and he made some commitments by paying 37 and he couldn’t go through the entire agreement and he had to go and serve the fifteen years.”
Mr. Essien was imprisoned on Thursday, October 12 for failing to pay the state the GH90 million he pledged to pay despite many lifelines granted to him since December 2022.
For his role in the failure of Capital Bank, Ato Essien pled guilty to 16 counts of stealing, money laundering, and conspiracy to steal.
He did, however, engage in a plea bargain with the state under section 35(7) of the courts’ ACT 459.
Mr. Essien was required to pay GH90 million under the agreement, of which he paid GH30 million cedis on December 13.
He was to pay the remaining GH60 million in three equal installments in 2023: GH20 million by April 28, another GH20 million by August 31, and the final GH20 million by December 15, 2023.
A crucial condition of the deal was that the court would not hesitate to impose a jail sentence if he missed any of the payment deadlines.
Mr. Essien, on the other hand, failed to pay the remainder.
