The Accra Circuit Court has granted bail to Michael Nyinaku, the former CEO of the defunct BEIGE bank who is accused of stealing more than Gh₵340 million belonging to customers of the bank.

He was admitted to bail in the sum of Gh₵342 million with two sureties.

The presiding judge, Justice Emmanuel Essandoh, ordered that the sureties must be public servants who do not earn less than Gh₵2,000 a month.

In a ruling on Friday, January 17, the court further ordered Nyinaku to deposit his passport with the court registry and also report to the police every Monday and Wednesday.

Nyinaku was initially denied bail when he appeared before the court on Tuesday.

His application for bail moved by his lawyer, Thaddeus Sory, was however accepted by the court today.

Nyinaku not well

Mr Sory in his bail application revealed that Nyinaku had fallen ill and was on admission at the Police Hospital.

This was corroborated by the prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Emmanuel Nyamekye.

Alleged stealing

Nyinaku and Prince Kofi Amoabeng , the founder of the defunct UT Bank were hauled before court on Tuesday for allegedly stealing more than GH¢340 million from their customers.

According to the prosecutor, ASP Nyamekye, in 2017, the BEIGE Group acquired a 90 per cent stake in a savings and loans company known as First African Savings and Loans (FASL) for $2.5 million.

According to him, as part of the transaction, an account known as the FASL Operational Account was opened at the BEIGE Bank.

He said as of the time the BEIGE Bank went into receivership, the said account had about GH¢12 million in it, which was known to the leadership of FASL.

It is, however, the case of the prosecution that the BEIGE Bank secretly opened another account in the name of FASL, which it used to channel funds to its entities and cronies.

“The withdrawals from the false FASL account were at the behest of Michael Nyinaku,” he said.

The prosecutor further told the court that the said false FASL account had funds close to GH¢340.94 million when it was initially opened, but some of the money was later transferred.

ASP Nyamekye added that the leadership of FASL was not aware of the second account in its name.

He told the court that investigations into that particular case were ongoing to unravel many issues related to it.

Source: Graphic.com