Dr. Johnson Asiama
In a significant development, the Office of the Attorney General has withdrawn all charges against Dr. Johnson Asiama, the former second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
Dr. Asiama had been accused of playing a role in the collapse of UT Bank and uniBank, two financial institutions that were shut down by the government during the banking sector clean-up exercise between 2017 and 2018.
Dr. Asiama had been charged alongside Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, the founder of uniBank, over alleged “dishonest” spending of funds belonging to customers and investors of the defunct bank. However, Dr. Asiama had consistently denied any wrongdoing, stating that he followed laid-down procedures at the BoG and acted based on technical recommendations from the Banking Supervision Department.
The prosecution had claimed that the BoG, under Dr. Asiama’s watch, had doled out over GH¢450 million to uniBank without following proper procedures. However, Dr. Asiama argued that there was no evidence that he stood to gain or gained anything personally from any adverse consequences.
In the UT Bank case, Dr. Asiama was accused of causing financial loss to the state by approving GH¢413.09 million in liquidity support without following proper procedures. However, he maintained that the money was granted to cover UT Bank’s working capital requirements while they pursued their Rights Issue.
With the withdrawal of all charges, Dr. Asiama has been cleared of any wrongdoing. This development brings an end to a long and complex legal battle ¹.
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