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Business & Analysis

Kwabena Duffuor, eight others charged with money laundering

By : Tetteh Djanmanor on 05 Feb 2020, 06:36

Dr Kwabena Dufuor

UniBank founder, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor has been charged by the state with 68 counts of fraudulent breach of trust, money laundering, dishonestly receiving and falsification of accounts.

According to the suit filed at the High Court, Dr. Duffuor will be facing trial alongside the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Johnson Pandit Asiama and seven others.

The others are Hoda Holdings Limited, Kwabena Duffour II, Ekow Nyarko Dadzie-Dennis, Elsie Dansoa Kyereh, Jeffrey Amon, Benjamin Ofori and Kwadwo Opoku Okoh.

UniBank went into official administration on March 20, 2018 and eventually collapsed on August 1, 2018.

Official Administrator, KPMG, in the course of its duties discovered that about GHS5.7 billion was owed by shareholders of uniBank as of March 20, 2018.

The GHS5.7 billion was the focus of a previous suit by Nii Amanor Dodoo who was acting as the Receiver.

Nii Amanor Dodoo in that suit listed several assets and properties of Dr. Duffuor and other defendants and urged the court to restrain them from selling them as part of his bid to recover the GHS5.7 billion.

According to the current fact sheet, as filed by the Attorney General, no security nor proper credit arrangements were made for the payment of the GHS5.7 billion which remains unpaid.

What made up the GHS5.7 billion?
The debt of GHS5.7 billion was made up of a Deferred Expenditure Account (DEA) together with other balances of about GHS3.7 billion and Loans and Advances made up of about GHS2 billion.

The GHS3.7 billion was also made up of a number of transactions of which about GHS2.4 billion constituted direct payments for the benefit of shareholders.

Out of the GHS2.4 billion, Kwabena Duffuor II, formerly a Chief Operating Officer (COO) of uniBank and Ekow Nyarko Dadzie-Dennis, who was also COO of uniBank, were said to collaborating to dishonestly appropriate funds out of customer deposits and borrowings from BOG for the benefit of shareholders.

The charge sheet said they misappropriated the funds through a variety of means including the use of petty cash vouchers and cash pay-in slips amounting to about GHS613 million.

Other accusations
The fact sheet also indicated that Dr. Duffuor and Hoda Holdings Limited are being accused of dishonestly receiving over GHS663 million through subsidiaries of Hoda Holdings.

The money, according to the facts sheet came through customer deposits with uniBank that were allegedly dishonestly transferred between January 2014 and February 2018.

The full charge sheet detailing other acts of alleged malfeasance can be viewed here.