AG drops charges against ex-BoG Dep-Gov

By Wisdom JONNY-NUEKPE

The Attorney-General, Dominic Akurutinga Ayine, has withdrawn all charges against Dr. Johnson Asiama – a former Bank of Ghana Deputy Governor – effective January 29, 2025, in relation to his alleged involvement in the collapse of UniBank and UT Bank.

Dr. Asiama, along with several others, had since 2020 been facing a range of charges including fraudulent breach of trust, money laundering, conspiracy to commit crime and violations of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) Act.

Why Dr. Asiama is believed to be innocent

In the case of UT Bank’s collapse, the second deputy governor was charged alongside five others including the bank’s founder, Prince Kofi Amoabeng. The other accused persons were Raymond Amanfu, UT Holdings Ltd.; Catherine Johnson; and Robert Kwesi Armah.

In the Unibank case, Dr. Asiama pleaded not guilty to both charges of flouting Bank of Ghana laws and willfully causing financial loss.

The approval of liquidity support was done officially by Management of BoG at the time.

These were official transactions that involved Management of BoG and included the Governor, first Deputy and second Deputy Governors.

The approval did not breach any BoG laws or provisions because the BoG Board had delegated such authority for approving the lendor of last resort facilities to Management of the Bank.

This delegation was contained in a Board Resolution that was passed on September 19, 2016

The Board Resolution further mandated management of the Bank to consider the context of systemically important banks and grant them forbearance of up to three years regarding capital adequacy and liquidity requirements.

This was why it appeared as if Unibank was being overly-accommodated.

Of the GH¢300million facility granted to Unibank, GH¢150million was paid back to BoG within the 90-day period while the rest was rolled over until the remaining amount was settled in mid-2024 by UMB.

Therefore, there has been no financial loss to the BoG or the state to warrant any prosecution.

Any role that Dr. Asiama played in this whole transaction was in line with his assigned duties as contained in his appointment letter as a second Deputy Governor.

The UT case charges were similar. The approvals or liquidity support were also done officially during the Governors Morning Meetings. These meetings took place in the office of the Governor and, hence, everything was transparent and formal.

Moreover, the facility granted was recommended by the Banking Supervision Department of BoG after considering a number of scenarios.

The aim was to support UT Bank over 12 months while UT pursued their Rights Issue to bring in additional capital.

These were not activities that Dr. Asiamah personally participated in. This technical analysis was done by BSD staff of the BoG.

AG’s decision to withdraw the case

Based on the facts and investigations conducted by the CID in support of the prosecution – along with the robust defence mounted by Dr. Asiama with authentic documentary evidence – even the former Attorney General, Mr. Godfred Dame, authored an internal memo expressing frustration over the absence of cogent evidence to successfully prosecute Dr. Asiama.

As a result, he recommended cessation of the trial and withdrawal of all charges. This memo highlights the lack of merit in the case and raises further questions about why the case continued for so long.

Constitutional discretion granted to the Attorney General includes the power to assess the credibility of charges and supporting evidence. The AG is empowered to decide which cases to pursue based on available evidence, public interest and other relevant factors.

After reviewing Dr. Asiama’s file – including the internal memo from Mr. Godfred Dame – the current Attorney General, Mr Ayine, concluded that it would not be in the public interest to continue the prosecution, hence the decision to withdraw all charges.

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