Supreme Court denies Ato Essien special leave to appeal Court of Appeal ruling

The Supreme Court has dismissed a motion by defunct Capital Bank Founder, William Ato Essien, where he was seeking an order for special leave to appeal a May 23, 2022 ruling of the Court of Appeal. 

The Court of Appeal on May 23, upheld a High Court ruling, dismissing an application for stay of proceedings pending the determination of their appeal. 

At the High Court, Ato Essien’s lawyers told the Court they had appealed against its admission of unsigned documents (exhibits 24, 24A, 24B, and 27) into evidence against their objections. Additionally, they asked the Court to temporarily halt the trial to enable them to pursue the appeal at the Court of Appeal.

The High court, presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, a Court of Appeal judge, sitting as an additional High Court Judge, held that “the prospect of the success of the interlocutory appeal is very bleak” as such he had “no hesitation in dismissing this application”.

However in Mr. Essien’s affidavit in support of his motion at the Supreme Court, he argues that he believes there are exceptional circumstances justifying the grant of the application to stay proceedings. He adds that the refusal of his application may lead to grave injustice and amount to a breach of his fundamental human right to liberty.  

In addition to seeking special leave to appeal the May 23, Court of Appeal ruling, Mr. Essien was asking the Court to grant a stay of proceedings of his trial at the High Court, pending a determination of the motion on notice for special leave. 

The five-person panel of Supreme Court Justices, with Jones Dotse as president, Nene Amegatcher, Prof. Nii Ashie Kotey, Gertrude Torkornoo, and Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi as members, held there was no prima facie case against the Court of Appeal ruling while dismissing same. 

Particularly for Justice Nene Amegatcher, he raised the point that Counsel for Mr. Essien failed to indicate in his affidavit, the basic ground rules for granting the application. 

“For applications of this nature, there are some basics for us to consider in order to grant this application. The Courts over the years have come out with three grounds. I’ve gone through your affidavit, and I don’t see any of the grounds,” he said.

He also raised a concern over delays with court processese regarding the prosecution of financial crimes, explaining that it will not be in the interest of the country if such conduct continues. 

“I have seen a trend in this country. I see the court processes being used to delay the prosecution of financial crime and corruption-related offences. It is a trend I have observed, when counsel raises an objection at the trial level, goes on appeal to the highest level, comes down, raises an objection again, and goes in circles. So I don’t think it’s in the interest of the country if we would want to fight financial crimes and corruption. In other jurisdictions, you’re given not more than three months,” he said. 

Given the dismissal of the first motion, Mr. Essien’s counsel, Baffuor Gyawu Bonsu Ashia withdrew the application for stay of proceedings of the trial at the High Court. 

Background

Capital Bank was one of the first banks to fold up during the start of the financial sector clean-up by the Bank of Ghana in 2017. 

State Prosecutors have accused the founder of the bank, William Ato Essien, of causing the insolvency of the bank by stealing about GH¢200 million of a GH¢620 million liquidity support given to the bank by the Bank of Ghana (BoG).

Rev. Odonkor is standing trial alongside the bank’s founder Ato Essien and businessman, Dr Tetteh Nettey for various offences - stealing, abetment to steal, conspiracy to steal, and money laundering.