Court grants GH₵10m bail to William Ato Essien pending appeal

The Court of Appeal has granted GH₵10 million bail, with two sureties, to William Ato Essien, former Managing Director and founder of the now-defunct Capital Bank, as he seeks to appeal his 15-year prison term for causing financial loss to the state.

Mr Essien was convicted in October 2023 after a restitution agreement collapsed due to non-payment of funds pledged towards the alleged misappropriation of GH¢90 million in Bank of Ghana liquidity support to Capital Bank.

Following his default on repayment obligations, the court sentenced him to serve 15 years.

Today’s decision comes on the back of a campaign by a section of Ghanaians, including an online petition to the President for clemency on health grounds.

• Read also: Ato Essien critically ill in prison, do we leave him there? – John Apea urges clemency

On July 27, Head of Missions at the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council and Board Member of the Commonwealth Human Rights Office for Africa, Dr. John Apea, cited the founder of the defunct Capital Bank’s severely deteriorated health as a compelling reason.

In a discussion on X Spaces that Sunday, Dr. Apea revealed that Mr Essien is now wheelchair-bound, suffering from a spinal injury sustained while in custody.

• Read also: AG drops charges against Duffuor, 7 others over uniBank collapse

Highlighting the emotional and physical toll of Essien’s condition, Dr. Apea stated that “as it stands now, Ato is not receiving the necessary medical care that a prison facility or within the prison walls that he needs, you know?”

“So that’s why, for me, the clemency is the biggest thing I’m most interested in now, court, case, capital, bank, all that stuff. I don’t want to meddle in politics either. Let the lawyer deal with that one step at a time. But for now, we have to look at what the real issue is. The real issue is that here’s our father, here’s our brother, here’s our son who can’t take care of himself in prison because he’s in ill health. Do we leave him there? Is that rehabilitation, or is that a death penalty? We don’t have capital punishment for financial crimes in Ghana, but is this a silent execution that we are putting people who are ill through? I don’t think that should be the case,” he said.

Dr. Apea questioned the integrity of Ghana’s justice system in this context, drawing attention to the contrast in treatment between Essien and other high-profile figures convicted of financial crimes.

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