An Accra High court has sentenced the former CEO of defunct capital bank, William Ato Essien to 15 years in prison with hard labour. Mr. Ato Essien was convicted of stealing over GH¢90m of Bank of Ghana’s liquidity support to the now-defunct financial institution.

This follows his failure to pay in full an amount of GH¢90 million cedis he agreed to pay the state despite several lifelines given him since December 2022.

The court in May 2023 gave him 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.

Ato Essien was convicted in December 2022 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 instalments in 2023.

The first payment was due by the end of April 2023 failure of which placed him at risk of being handed a jail sentence. At the end of April, the convict had only paid GH¢6 million out of the GH¢20 million.