The defence attorneys in the trial of the founder of the defunct Beige Bank have told the High Court in Accra that the former Managing Director (MD) of the First Africa Savings and Loans (FASL) and a prominent member of AGLOW Ghana, Mrs. Gifty Afenyi Dadzie, concealed information from police investigators in order to implicate their client.
According to the defence attorneys headed by Thaddeus Sory, Mrs. Afenyi Dadzie, who was then the managing director of FASL, did not provide the investigators with complete information regarding the sale of FASL to The BEIGE Group when she met with them during the investigation.
Mr. Sory stated that Mrs. Dadzie "definitely lied" during the investigation procedures to the Commercial Crime Unit (CCU) and Special Investigation Team (SIT).
Mr. Sory argued to ASP Abednego Atsah, the Fifth Prosecution Witness in the ongoing trial, that Mrs. Gifty Afenyi-Dadzie lied to him and his investigation team when she claimed that she and Kwabena Bonsu represented the management team of FASL to the exclusion of Beige Group officials.
In his response, the witness stated, "We asked her to provide voluntary statements, which she did."
The Beige Bank was reported to have engaged into an agreement with FASL to acquire 90 percent of FASL's shares, in accordance with the share purchase agreement between the beige group Ltd and first Africa group.
Following this, Beige made a payment of GHS 7 million, the cedi equivalent of USD 1.6 million, as a portion of the purchase price, which was USD2.5 million at the time.
This USD1.6 million was paid directly to First Africa Group, the now-former minority shareholders.
The BEIGE Group then invested an additional GHS9 million directly into FASL in order to increase the stated capital and boost the working capital of FASL, since BEIGE was now the predominant shareholder and controller of FASL.
First Africa Group's Gifty Affenyi Dadzie and Kwesi Tetteh Dadzie misrepresented to BEIGE that they had obtained all necessary approvals from the Bank of Ghana when, in fact, they had not. This representation was explicitly stated in the sale and purchase agreement that both parties had executed.
Mr. Sory, while subjecting ASP Abednego Atsah, the matter's investigator, to further Cross-Examination before the Financial and Economic Division of the Accra High Court presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, stated that Mrs. Afenyi Dadzie was always aware that Beige Group officials who worked with FASL had access to FASL letterheads and did not need to forge them.
The Fifth Prosecution Witness in the ongoing trial, ASP Abednego Atsah, stated that Mrs. Afenyi Dadzie did not mention that.
The Investigator, ASP Abednego Atsah, the fifth prosecution witness in the ongoing trial, presented his Witness Statement on December 8, 2022. On July 7, 2023, the court adopted his Witness Statement as his Chief Evidence, including various exhibits.
The purpose of his testimony before the Court presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, a Justice of the Court of Appeal presiding as an additional High Court judge, is to corroborate the charges brought against Mr. Michael Nyineku by the Prosecution.
Mr Michael Nyinaku, founder and CEO of the defunct bank, has been accused of syphoning customer funds and charged with stealing GH2.1 billion from the bank.
He has been granted bail after pleading not guilty to 43 offences, including theft, fraudulent breach of trust, and money laundering.
The case has been postponed until July 21, 2023, by Justice Asare-Botwe, a Court of Appeal justice sitting as an auxiliary High Court judge.