Trial of former Beige Bank boss - Confusion ensues between accused, lawyer

The Economic and Financial Crime Division of the High Court in Accra has adjourned the trial of the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of defunct Beige Bank Limited over a misunderstanding between the accused and his lawyer, Thaddeus Sory.

The lawyer, who was expected to continue his cross-examination of the prosecution’s principal witness, was absent in court when the case was called.

A Chartered Accountant with an accounting and auditing firm, KPMG, Julius Ayivor, has his evidence in chief and is currently being cross-examined by Nyinaku’s lawyer.

He was expected to resume the cross-examination today (Feb 16), but he (Nyinaku) informed the Court that there had been a misunderstanding between him and his lawyer.

Mr Sory, the accused said, failed to show up in court because of what the accused described as a “misunderstanding” that occurred in their “camp” over the weekend.

When Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe asked Mike Nyinaku why his lawyer was absent, the former CEO of the defunct Beige Bank answered: “My lady, there was a misunderstanding in our camp.”

The misunderstanding, he said, accounted for his lawyer's absence.

The presiding judge further asked why the accused was just telling the court about the misunderstanding.

The accused responded by saying that the misunderstanding happened over the weekend.

Details of the matter were not given in open court as the judge was briefed in her chamber.

The case was subsequently adjourned to March 10, 2023.

At the court presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, Nyinaku was charged for allegedly stealing GH¢1.21 billion of depositors' money from the bank.

However, he pleaded not guilty to 43 charges of stealing, fraudulent breach of trust and money laundering when he mounted the dock yesterday.

Transactions

At the previous hearing, Mr Sory continued with his cross-examination of Mr Ayivor.

Mr Sory, in his cross-examination, had put to the prosecution witness that customer funds siphoned from Beige Bank to BCAM, Nyinaku’s company, were done in the ordinary course of Beige Bank’s business and were, therefore, regular transactions as the Beige Bank had kept accurate records of those movements.

Mr Sory suggested to the witness that before the bank’s licence was revoked, any customer that wanted their funds got those funds.

Mr Sory had, during a previous hearing, tendered through the principal witness, a copy of what he said was an investment certificate that had been issued to an affected customer for a GH¢4 million fixed deposit investment that had been placed with “BEIGE”.

Blind side

Mr Ayivor, however, disagreed with Mr Sory’s suggestions and indicated that the amounts siphoned from Beige Bank to BCAM were done on the blind side of the over 10,000 affected customers.

Mr Ayivor further told the court that the investment certificates issued to the affected customers had some peculiarities.

Explaining the said peculiarities, Mr Ayivor stated that the referenced investment certificate, which was similar to other investment certificates issued to various unsuspecting customers of the bank, only had the embossment “BEIGE” on the certificates without specifying which specific Beige entity the amount was being “invested” in.

Mr Ayivor indicated that there were other entities in the Beige Group, including BCAM and Beige Group Limited, on whose behalf the said “BEIGE” investment certificate was issued, yet those certificates were presented to the unsuspecting customers as though they had been issued by Beige Bank.

Mr Ayivor added that those investment certificates had been designed to mislead unsuspecting customers who believed their monies were being placed in fixed deposit investments with Beige Bank when the monies collected were siphoned and diverted out of the bank to other companies owned by Nyinaku.

What remains unknown is whether Mr Sory will continue to represent Mike Nyinaku or whether another lawyer will show up on the adjourned date. 

Writer’s mail: justice.agbenorsi@graphic.com.gh