Receiver of Uni Bank can testify – Court of Appeal affirms High Court ruling

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the receiver of Uni Bank Ghana Limited, Nii Amanor Dodoo can testify in the trial of Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and nine others.

Mr. Amanor Dodoo is the state’s first witness in the trial in which Dr. Duffour and nine others have been charged on counts of fraudulent breach of trust, money laundering, dishonestly receiving, and falsification of accounts.

The court concluded that the application by Dr. Duffour was wholly “unmeritorious.”

Background

In June 2021, lawyers for Dr. Duffour, while arguing that the receiver had breached sections of the Banks and Specialized Deposit Act, 2016, prayed the High Court not to allow Mr. Dodoo testify in the ongoing trial.

They also argued that the presence of Mr. Dodoo does not qualify him as the first Prosecution Witness because he was appointed Receiver of Uni Bank after being a partner of KPMG, the firm that audited the bank’s accounts.

However, the presiding judge, Justice Bright Mensah, dismissing the objection, ruled that Mr. Dodoo was qualified to testify and that he had personal knowledge of what was at hand.

Founder of defunct Unibank, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor is standing trial on 71 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 is 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.