Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, Professor John Gatsi, has said that the prosecution of the Director of defunct Capital Bank is not a justification for the collapse of the bank.
Speaking on TV3’s Ghana Tonight, Professor Gatsi said it is right for the government of Ghana to arraign the various officers of all defunct banks for prosecution. However, the banks were different entities so it was the Bank of Ghana’s duty as a regulator to save them while it prosecuted its officers who embezzled the funds.
“It is right to arraign the various officers for prosecution. The bank is a separate entity, away from the officers therefore when the officers offend the bank, we expect the regulators to come in to punish the officers and not collapse the bank and make sure the bank is saved,” he said.
He continued that all the defunct banks that were collapsed in 2020 were duly established and incorporated by the laws of Ghana while, it employed people to man the banks as officers to act in outmost good faith which they failed, so the regulator should have punished the human beings, thus, the failed officers, and leave the bank to function since it was working effectively to its customers and never erred in any of its mandates as a financial institution.
“The regulator should always be on the side of the bank, protecting the bank to stay alive and punish the officers. But if you collapse the bank because someone acted against the bank, it is not the best,” he commented.
Professor Gatsi further added that the Finance minister’s justification for the collapse of all the defunct banks in 2020 is not worthwhile. According to the economic expert, even though some of the banks had issues with their books and balances, depositors of such banks never complained about the safety of their funds until these banks were closed down.
“None of these bank’s depositors ever complained of not getting their monies when they go to the banks until the bank was collapsed [that] those depositors started suffering this problem. Which shows that the government of Ghana was not justified for closing down all these financial institutions,” he indicated.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of defunct Capital Bank, William Ato Essien, has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by an Accra High Court after he pleaded guilty for stealing and money laundering.
Although he reached an agreement to refund an embezzled amount of GHC90 million to the state, he only managed to refund GHC37 million, therefore the imposition of the custodial sentence. Although he was slapped with a total jail term of 95 years, these sentences are to run concurrently, hence, he will be spending 15 years in jail.
READ ALSO: ‘Greedy Ato Essien had no cause to steal such gargantuan sums of money’ – Presiding Judge
By Clara Boadi Konadu|Onuaonline.com
