Capital Bank founder Ato Essien jailed 15 years for stealing; failed to honour re-payment terms

Founder of the now-defunct Capital Bank, William Ato Essien, has been given a 15-year prison sentence by the Accra High Court for embezzling more than GH¢90 million from the institution.

Ato Essien, who was found guilty of stealing more than GH¢90 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 for him to pay the GH¢90 million in restitution to the state.

He paid GH¢30 million of the total in December 2022 and was required by the court-adopted agreement to pay the remaining GH¢60 million in three installments, with the first installment due no later than April 28, 2023, the second no later than August 31, 2023, and the final installment due no later than December 15, 2023.

He had paid only GH¢6 million out of the agreed GH¢20 million by April 2023, missing the deadlines for April 28. He also missed the deadline of August 31.

Essien had pleaded with the courts to make his passport available to him to arrange for funds with some external parties, but the Deputy Attorney General, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, stated that the state could not honour his requests due to the risk of his intrackability.

The state applied for a custodial sentence due to a breach of the payment plan.

Justice Baffour deferred the hearing, citing agreements with a company for the liquidation of properties belonging to Ato Essien.

However, Ato Essien only made an additional GH¢2 million payment following this arrangement.

This means he had paid a total of GH¢38 million out of the full amount owed the state of GH¢90 million.