uniBank demise: Duffuor lawyers refute court charges

Lawyers for former Finance Minister, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and his son, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor Jnr, have refuted charges against their clients for playing major roles in the collapse of uniBank.

According to Charles Puozuing, the charges against his client are misplaced.

“We have not been served with any charges by the state, either filed or unfiled. Therefore we have no knowledge of whatever is being discussed. We have also not been invited as to when we are supposed to appear in court to be charged or for the charges to be read to us.”

Continuing, he said: “Dr. Duffuor is not guilty of these claims and if indeed they did proper investigations, they would have been clear in their minds that they were not even supposed to make these charges”.

Lawyer for Dr. Kwabena Junior, Edudzi Tamakloe for his part said “It is within the preserve of the state considering what facts are available to them to proceed to court. What I do know is that facts that are attached to a charge sheet does not constitute evidence. Our only prayer is that, consistent with article 19, we would have the benefit of a fair trial”.

He prayed for a fair trial.

Dr. Duffuor; a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson Asiama and seven others were yesterday charged by an Accra High Court for playing roles leading to the financial sector crisis.

Dr. Kwabena Duffuor was charged by the state with 68 counts of Fraudulent Breach of Trust, Money Laundering, Dishonestly Receiving and Falsification of Accounts.

He will be facing trial together with Dr. Johnson Asiama and the seven others.

According to the Facts Sheet as filed by the Attorney General, “Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, the 1st accused person, is a shareholder of uniBank Ghana Limited (uniBank) and the ultimate beneficial owner of Holdings Company Limited (HODA).

HODA, the 2nd accused person, is a holding company and the majority shareholder of uniBank.

Johnson Pandit Asiama, the 3rd accused person, was the Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BOG) between April 2016 and January 2018.

The 4th accused person, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor II, is a former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of uniBank between June 2017 and March 2018.

The 5th accused person, Ekow Nyarko Dadzie-Dennis, who was a Chief Executive Officer of uniBank is a member of the Board of Directors of WAICA Reinsurance Corporation Plc (WAICA-Re), Sierra Leone.

The 6th accused person, Elsie Dansoa Kyereh, was an Executive Head of Corporate Banking at uniBank.

The 7th accused person, Jeffrey Amon, was a Senior Relationship Manager of Corporate Banking at uniBank.

The 8th accused person, Benjamin Ofori was the Executive Head of Credit Risk at uniBank.

The 9th accused person, Kwadwo Opoku Okoh, was a Financial Control Manager of uniBank and is the Head of Finance of HODA.

According to the Facts Sheet, UniBank went into official administration on 20th March 2018 and was placed in receivership on 1st August 2018. KPMG, the Official Administrator, in the course of its duties discovered that about GH¢5.7 billion had become due from shareholders of uniBank as of 20th March 2018.

It eventually collapsed in August 2020.

uniBank was then merged with six other local banks into the Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited.