Capital Bank Collapse: Ato Essien Lawyers Grill BoG Official

Lawyers for the founder of the defunct Capital Bank, William Ato Essien, on Thursday, March 17, 2022, grilled an official of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) at the Accra High Court about the liquidity support the Central Bank extended to the bank.

The BoG official — Emmanuel Edward Arhin, a Deputy Chief Manager at the Banking Department of the BoG, was being cross-examined on some documents relating to the liquidity support which he brought after he was subpoenaed by the court.

The GH¢620 million liquidity support the BoG gave to Capital Bank is the subject matter of the trial, with the prosecution making a case that Essien and the other accused person dissipated the money, leading to the collapse of the bank.

However, throughout the trial, Essien has insisted that the liquidity support was a loan which Capital Bank was dutifully paying with interest until it was declared insolvent by the BoG.

Also, he denied that the liquidity support was dissipated as alleged by the prosecution, but rather made a case that the money was used for normal banking business which was not alien to the banking industry.

Source:peacefmonline