Former Chief Executive Officer of defunct Capital bank, Ato Essien has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour for failing to pay in full an amount of GH¢90 million he agreed to pay the state despite several lifelines given him.
The court in May 2023 gave Ato Essien a two-month window to at least pay in full the first GH¢20 million out of the GH¢60 million he was due to pay but was not able to meet this directive.
In December 2022, Ato Essien was convicted on his own plea after striking a deal with the state under section 35 of the Courts Act to avoid a custodial sentence.
He has, however, been having a hard time fulfilling a GH¢90 million debt obligation imposed on him by the court in replacement of the custodial sentence.
According to the agreement, Ato Essien was mandated to pay GH¢90 million by the end of 2023 for which he paid GH¢30 million in December 2022 and was expected to pay the remainder in three equal installments in 2023.
The first tranche was due for payment by the end of April 2023 which he managed to pay GH¢6 million out of the GH¢20 million.
During the ruling, Justice Kyei Baffour disclosed that Essien had paid only GH₵7 million out of a possible GH¢40 million, missing the deadlines for April 28 and August 31 this year, bringing the total paid to GH₵37 million of the total GH₵90 million.
The state filed an application to get the court to issue the custodial sentence as the terms of the agreement required that a breach of the payment plan would amount to the imposition of a custodial sentence on him.
The court presided over by Judge, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, upon a request by the lawyers of the convict deferred the hearing of the application to impose a custodial sentence.
However, Ato Essien’s lawyers argued that agreements have been reached with a company for the liquidation of some properties belonging to their client to pay for the debt.