Dame Dares Ayine Over Beige Bank GHC10M Claim

Former Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame has dared the current Attorney-General, Dr. Dominic Ayine to provide evidence of a GHC10million settlement offered by council for the accused in the Beige Bank case.

Dame, in a social media post, suggested there has been no such offer. He alleged Dr. Dominic Ayine, peddled lies to Ghanaians.

“I ask, under what circumstance does Dr. Ayine claim that counsel for the accused in the Beige Bank case offered him GHC10Million? I assert that there is no record of this. I challenge Dr. Ayine to produce receipt of such a proposal, and, his official response. Was it a proposal to Ayine in his private capacity?

“The State lost the Beige Bank case under Dr. Ayine’s watch on an appeal against a ruling on a submission of no case filed by the accused. Alarmingly, instead of exploring means of challenging the correctness of the decision of the Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court, Dr. Ayine seems very satisfied with the development and has already made comments suggestive of a disinclination to appeal” Dame made it known in a Facebook post.

He comments come after Dr. Ayine in a press conference stated that shortly after assuming office, he was offered GHS10 million by legal representatives of Beige Capital as part of a potential settlement relating to issues from the financial sector clean-up which he rejected the offer, citing a commitment to justice and personal integrity.

Reacting to Dr. Ayine’s decision to discontinue the criminal prosecution of Unibank founder Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and seven others, Dame stated that, the current Attorney General is weakening the State’s fight against financial crimes.

He wrote, “The inescapable reality of Dr. Ayine’s latest act and ex post facto rationalisations (laden with contradictions and inconsistencies as they are) is that, he sought to free his former clients from the clutches of criminal prosecution through the exercise of the power of nolle prosequi. That is the first disclosure he should have made to the public at his press conference. Ghanaians deserve this basic courtesy.

“Dr. Ayine ought not mislead the public into thinking that through some unprecedented genius, he has recovered assets or money for the State. All the assets of the Duffuors, Unibank and related companies as well as other persons being prosecuted with them, had already been identified by the Receivers of Unibank appointed by Bank of Ghana. The Receiver already had a full list and profile of assets owned by them. Dr. Ayine should indicate to the public when either himself or his team this year discovered any new assets owned by the Duffuors.

He continued, “The record will reflect the fact that, to date, Dr. Ayine has not recovered a single Cedi in the Unibank matter. What he proposes to do, and for which he has already entered nolle prosequi, is to, in future, use some of the assets already identified by the Receiver to defray what he has unilaterally determined to be owed by the accused persons. Instructively, this arrangement is not pursued under any law. It is only pursuant to the exercise of Ayine’s power of nolle prosequi. Dr. Ayine thus, cannot lay claim to recovering any more assets than what the Receiver already has.

“He also cannot claim to have recovered for the Republic any money from the accused persons this year. Questions arising include, was any agreement executed with the Republic before the entry of nolle prosequi, and if so, when? Where is that agreement? Has any fair and objective valuation of the properties been done, and if so, when? Where is the valuation report? In the event of default, what is the penalty and how enforceable is it?”