Case against Ato Essien and co solid, no witch hunting – Dep. AG suggests

Deputy Attorney General, Joseph Dindiok Kpemka, has said it will amount to political persecution if William Ato Essien and three others were charged based on the comments of Mr. Essien in the media. Mr. Essien, in an interview that went viral, accused the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and board chairman of Enterprise Group, Kelli Gadzekpo of trying to buy the Capital Bank in 2016. But Mr. Kpemka told 3news.com it would be out of place to assume that the suit against Ato Essien was influenced by his media outburst. “We are not thinking about the comment people are making, we are thinking about our professional judgment. It will amount to political persecution and it will suggest that we don’t have anything to say but because he spoke that’s why we are going to court”. He said such action could be contrary to Article 296 which gives the AG the power to prosecute cases based on evidence. He asserted that personnel at the Attorney General’s Department would not rush to court unprepared. “The fact of the matter is that, investigations started as far back as 2017. We were putting together the documents and we were not ready but now we are”. He said the charges are maintainable and the accused persons have questions to answer, adding the accused will have the right to counter the evidence presented in court. He added that individuals who were mentioned in the Bolders Report with evidence were included in the suit. The Deputy A.G hinted of more suits against people suspected to have contributed to the collapse of other banks. The founder of defunct Capital Bank, William Ato Essien and three others were charged by the state with 26 counts for playing various roles leading to the collapse of the bank in 2017. The other three cited in the charge sheets are the former CEO of the bank, Fitzgerald Odonkor, owner of M.C management Service Limited, Dr. Teetey Nettey and CEO of Reroy Cables Limited Kate Quartey-Papafio. By Godfred Tanam | 3news.com]]>