In the well-known case of former Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and seven other individuals who were charged with being involved in the failure of UniBank, the Attorney-General (AG) submitted a nolle prosequi today, July 22.
The AG’s office attributes this decision to the substantial recovery of state funds. It was made by Deputy Attorney-General Dr. Justice Srem-Sai and effectively ends the criminal proceedings against the accused.
The case, officially known as The Republic v. Kwabena Duffuor & 7 Others (CR/0248/2020), was a significant component of the State’s larger financial sector cleanup effort that was started in 2018.
According to the Attorney-General’s office, the main goals of these cases were to guarantee accountability for public monies and, more importantly, to recoup damages suffered by the State as a result of alleged financial misconduct.
In February 2020, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, the founder of uniBank and former Finance Minister from 2009 to 2013 as well as Governor of the Bank of Ghana from 1997 to 2001, was accused with a number of crimes, including money laundering and theft.
According to court records at the time, Duffuor was accused of receiving GHS 663.3 million, or around $122 million, “knowing it had been obtained by means of a criminal offense.”
In August 2018, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) declared uniBank insolvent, citing GHS 5.3 billion in loans and withdrawals made by shareholders and connected parties without following the proper procedures.
Other people were also named in the indictments, including Johnson Asiama, a former deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana who was accused of aiding financial misconduct.
The Office of the Attorney-General, in cooperation with other pertinent State agencies, including the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), set a 60% recovery of the alleged losses as a requirement for reevaluating prosecution in particular cases, according to the Deputy Attorney-General’s press release.
