The collapse of Capital Bank and it’s waste of taxpayer resources is set to be adjudicated in court after two plaintiffs sued the shareholders of the bank.
Dr Mensa Otabil, ICGC and 13 other shareholders of the now defunct bank are being sued for their role in its collapse and the subsequent waste of taxpayer funds meant to get the bank back on its feet.
The Plaintiffs in the suit are named as Messrs Vish Ashiagbor and Eric Nana Nipah from PricewaterhouseCoopers, and they argue that the defendants (shareholders) purposefully run down the bank with their ‘misgovernance’ and by wilfully flouting banking regulations.
A few months ago it emerged that Mensa Otabil had played an even bigger than revealed role in the collapse of the bank. The bank whilst in trouble was handed Ghc 610m by the Bank of Ghana to save its operations but that money was rather misused by the board of the bank, headed by Mensa Otabil.
Founder of the Bank William Ato Essien requested for Ghc 130m loan for another of his companies, and when management of the bank refused to sanction the loan from the bank of Ghana funds Mensa Otabil provided a personal guarantee for the loan to be given out.
It’s been three years now and that money has never been repaid.
Otabil and Associates, a company headed by Otabil and his church, ICGC, both took out Ghc 51.6m loans which have also not been paid back, the suit alleges.
The suit squarely lays the blame for the bank’s collapse on the mismanagement and financial malfeasance carried out by the top echelons of the bank’s management, including the ICGC founder Mensa Otabil.
Otabil, as we’ll recollect, tried to distance himself from the activities of the bank after the collapse, claiming that whilst he was board director, his position was nothing but a ‘non-executive’ role.
Source: GhanaCelebrities.Com