Ato Esien, Former Capital Bank CEO jailed 15 years

Former CEO of defunct Capital bank, Ato Essien, has received a 15-year prison sentence with hard labor after failing to fully repay an agreed amount of GH¢90 million to the state, despite multiple opportunities given to him.

In May 2023, the court granted Essien a two-month window to pay at least the first GH¢20 million out of the GH¢60 million he was obligated to repay. However, he was unable to meet this requirement.

Essien had previously pleaded guilty and struck a deal with the state under section 35 of the Courts Act to avoid a custodial sentence. Instead, he was ordered to pay a debt obligation of GH¢90 million.

As per the agreement, Essien was expected to pay GH¢90 million by the end of 2023. He made an initial payment of GH¢30 million in December 2022 and was supposed to pay the remaining amount in three equal installments throughout 2023.

The first installment was due by the end of April 2023, failure of which would result in a jail sentence. However, by the end of April, Essien had only paid GH¢6 million out of the GH¢20 million required.

The state subsequently filed an application to impose a custodial sentence, as per the terms of the agreement. However, upon a request from Essien’s lawyers, Judge Eric Kyei Baffour deferred the hearing of the application.

Essien’s legal team argued that agreements had been made with a company to liquidate some of his properties in order to repay the debt. However, it was revealed that Essien had only made an additional payment of GH¢2 million, bringing the total payment for the first installment to GH¢8 million, with a remaining balance of GH¢12 million.

Therefore, out of the total debt of GH¢90 million, Essien has only paid GH¢38 million, leaving a balance of GH¢52 million.