Attorney-General Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine has offered a detailed explanation for the state’s decision to withdraw criminal charges against former Finance Minister Dr Kwabena Duffour and other directors of the collapsed uniBank Ghana Limited, arguing that investigators found no evidence of theft, fraud or personal gain.
According to Dr Ayine, public perceptions of the uniBank case have been heavily shaped by the Duffour family’s prominence rather than by the legal standards required for criminal prosecution.
He said that when all financial-sector clean-up cases were reassessed, Unibank stood out as fundamentally different from others where convictions were properly pursued.
To clarify the contrast, he pointed to the Capital Bank prosecution, describing it as a case where the evidence of wrongdoing was unmistakable.
“In the Capital Bank trial, there was evidence that whenever liquidity support was given by the Bank of Ghana, the former managing director dishonestly appropriated those funds,” he told broadcaster Bola Ray on Starr Chat.
He said prosecutors were able to track how part of the liquidity support was physically moved for private use.
“According to him, prosecutors presented evidence showing that some of the liquidity support was physically transported in a vehicle to a private garage at the managing director’s residence, complete with geographic tracking of the movement of funds.”
“That is pure stealing,” he stressed.
Such clear evidence, he said, distinguished Capital Bank from Unibank, where investigations uncovered no such acts.
Dr Ayine urged the public not to equate a bank’s failure with criminal liability, especially where liquidity support was applied through legitimate banking processes.
“If liquidity support is applied in accordance with normal banking rules and the bank still collapses, you cannot criminalise the conduct of the owners or directors simply because the risk did not pay off,” he said.
Risk-taking, he argued, is inherent to banking, and business failures cannot be treated as crimes.
“You cannot turn around and say that because a bank received liquidity support and later failed, its directors must be prosecuted for causing financial loss to the state. It doesn’t happen anywhere.”
He emphasised that criminal law must be anchored in dishonesty, fraud or theft—not unsuccessful business decisions.
Responding to widespread claims that uniBank’s directors looted depositor funds, he was unequivocal: “There was no evidence that the Duffours stole money.”
Addressing allegations of fraudulent breach of trust, he explained that Ghanaian law defines the bank–customer relationship as contractual, not fiduciary.
“That is a fundamental principle of law. You cannot say there is a fraudulent breach of trust simply because depositors placed money in a bank and the bank extended loans that later failed.”
While Unibank did issue loans to related companies, Dr Ayine said such transactions only carry criminal implications when accompanied by dishonesty or diversion of funds.
He said these legal distinctions guided the discontinuation of charges, though civil suits and asset-recovery efforts still stand.
“I said they could either offer assets to cover part of the liability or go and stand trial. But I knew that eventually they would be acquitted because the evidence simply was not there.”
Dr Ayine reiterated that the uniBank case “was never about theft or personal enrichment.” His comments offer renewed perspective on the financial-sector clean-up, which remains a subject of national debate over regulatory failure, accountability and the boundaries of criminal liability.
Duffuor and Johnson Asiama charged with money laundering
In 2020, the state brought charges against Dr Kwabena Duffuor and former Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Johnson Asiama, over the collapse of the defunct uniBank.
Dr Duffuor faced accusations of money laundering and dishonestly receiving, while Dr Asiama was charged with willfully causing financial loss to the state.
The charge sheet, signed by the Director for Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mrs Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, was filed at the Accra High Court on Wednesday, February 5, 2020.
Other individuals named in the case included Dr Kwabena Duffuor II — son of Dr Duffuor and CEO of uniBank prior to its collapse — along with several senior executives of the bank.
These executives were Ekow Nyarko Dadzie-Dennis (Chief Operating Officer), Elsie Dansoa Kyereh (Executive Head of Corporate Banking), Jeffery Amon (Senior Relationship Manager), Benjamin Ofori (Executive Head of Credit Control), and Kwadwo Opoku Okoh (Financial Control Manager).
These accused persons faced multiple charges, including fraudulent breach of trust, money laundering, conspiracy to commit a crime, and breaches of the Bank of Ghana Act.
The Attorney-General (A-G) alleged that Dr Duffuor, a shareholder of uniBank, used the HODA Group to withdraw funds from the bank and “dishonestly” transfer depositors’ money. The A-G claimed Dr Duffuor and the HODA Group dishonestly received over GH¢660 million from the bank.
Dr Asiama, for his part, was accused of using his position as BoG’s Second Deputy Governor to approve the transfer of GH¢300 million from uniBank to Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) as an unsecured facility.
According to the A-G, Dr Asiama approved the transaction despite knowing that uniBank was in financial distress.
