Bloating Accounts By GH¢2.1b, Exclusion of GH¢300k: AG lists The ‘Sins’ Of Duffour, 7 Others

The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, while justifying his decision to drop the case against former finance minister Dr Kwabena Duffour and seven others, who were facing charges in connection with the collapse of the defunct uniBank, listed the wrongdoings of the accused persons.

Dr Ayine stated that Dr Duffour and the seven others had not been charged with causing financial loss to the state and did not steal the money involved in the case.

He, however, indicated that the total amount of GH¢3.3 billion quoted in the case included GH¢2.1 billion, which the accused persons misrepresented as the capital of uniBank to the Bank of Ghana (BoG).

He said that the accused persons did so just to give the perception that their bank was doing well.

“The charges in the criminal case involve a total amount of GH¢2.1 billion, not GH¢5.7 billion… The previously reported exposure of GH¢5.7 billion was reduced to GH¢3.3 billion, which comprises the following: the exclusion of GH¢2.1 billion in the alleged fictitious amounts booked to the account of the shareholder, which did not involve cash outflows. In other words, monies didn’t go out to anybody; these were just book entries that were designed to make the books of uniBank look good.

“That is how come, in the criminal case, the charge of falsification of accounts was brought against them. So, they did not loot the money. They did not give the money to anybody. They just made entries that were meant to give the Bank of Ghana, the impression that the bank was doing well,” he said.

Dr Ayine also pointed out that the crimes the accused persons are alleged to have committed included the misrepresentation of the figures of one of their companies, which was under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

He said that the criminal case against the accused persons included, “The exclusion of GH¢300,000 relating to uniBank’s placement with the SEC-regulated company currently in receivership, which is being pursued separately through the insolvency proceedings.”