An Accra Circuit Court, Circuit Court IV, has granted the Chief Executive Officer of defunct UT Bank, Prince Kofi Amoabeng bail to the tune of GHC110 million with two sureties.
Prince Kofi Amoabeng was arrested on Tuesday, over his alleged involvement in the collapse of UT Bank.
He has been accused of two charges of stealing and money laundering. He pleaded not guilty to both charges.
“He is a businessman who owns UT logistics, UT holdings and UT properties among others. There is no evidence before this court that he will not come. He will not run away because of his businesses,” he argued.
The bank’s license was revoked in 2017 and taken over, together with Capital Bank, whose license was also revoked, by GCB Bank.
The Bank of Ghana cited liquidity challenges and other financial malpractices and breach of banking sector regulations as some of the reasons for the revocation of the license of UT Bank.
The Bank of Ghana between 2017 and 2019 embarked on banking sector reform to strengthen the sector and save it from collapse.
The number of banks in the country reduced by about 10. The exercise was also carried out in the Savings and Loans and Microfinance sectors where hundreds of financial institutions had their licenses revoked.
This measure, according to government saved the deposits of millions of Ghanaians.
Many people called for the prosecution of persons found culpable in the collapse of the banks, a proposal government kept assuring will soon be implemented.
Kofi Amoabeng is expected back in court on January 22, 2019.
