Unibank trial: Benjamin Ofori has no business requesting for accounts to be opened – Receiver

Mr. Benjamin Ofori, a former Executive Head of Credit Risk at Unibank, had no business asking for accounts to be opened, as he intended to do in his email, according to Nii Amanor Dodoo, the Receiver of Unibank.

He claimed that was not how new current accounts were opened at Unibank.

The Receiver testified that he discovered an email from Mr. Ofori requesting permission to open an additional current account on January 19, 2016.

The Receiver responded to inquiries during cross-examination by Mr. Ofori’s attorneys.

In this case, the defendants are accused of conspiring to conduct a crime, money laundering, dishonest appropriation, willfully causing financial harm to the Republic, and fraudulent breach of trust.

It was determined that 5.7 billion cedis had been dishonestly plundered by the shareholders with the connivance and help of sure of the accused people at the time the license of Unibank was canceled.

According to the Receiver’s testimony, most of the consumers for whom bogus accounts were created were unaware that they existed.

Others, he claimed, learned that loans had been credited to their accounts without their permission and requested that these loans be reversed.

He clarified that the email sent on January 19, 2016, by Mr. Ofori was merely one example used to demonstrate how current account opening procedures were broken.

He said that on January 6, 2016, and November 11, 2016, Unibank transferred GHC 28 million into two equal payments of GHC 14 million into two new loan accounts, one of which belonged to the Fuzak firm.

Mr. Benjamin Ofori, a former executive head of credit risk at Unibank, was represented by Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, who suggested to the Receiver that Mr. Ofori could not have authorized the deposit of GH 14 million into a fictitious account on January 6, 2016, as Mr. Ofori’s request for the opening of additional charges was dated January 19, 2016.

The Receiver refuted the assertion and stated that he had shown numerous memos written by individuals, including Mr. Ofori, in support of the opening of these bogus accounts.

The Receiver, however, was unable to locate any passage in the memos that expressly said that Mr. Ofori had asked for the opening of additional current accounts.

The Receiver responded that just because the memos do not contain evidence of the request to create additional accounts does not imply that there is no such evidence. Nana Awuah once more argued to the Receiver that there appeared to be no evidence indicating that Mr. Ofori requested the creation of the fictitious accounts into which the GH 28 million was disbursed on January 6, 2016, and November 11, 2016.

He said that when a loan was issued into the loan account, the corresponding amount was simultaneously transferred or credited to the customer’s current budget.

The Receiver testified that he discovered an email from Mr. Ofori requesting permission to open an additional current account on January 19, 2016.

He said that because it was not how Unibank opened new current accounts, Mr. Ofori had no right to ask for funds to be extended as he intended in his email.

According to the Receiver’s testimony, most of the consumers for whom bogus accounts were created were unaware that they existed.

He explained that when he asked Fuzak’s Managing Director (MD) to pay back the loan balance on the company’s bogus account, the MD said Fuzak had never requested a loan of this kind.

According to the Receiver, the MD claimed that he addressed the Relationship Manager after noticing that Fuzak’s regular account had been credited with the loan proceeds of GH 14 million and was told the amount had been credited incorrectly.

“Therefore, the amount was reversed,” he said.

According to the defense, the narration allegedly coming from Fuzak’s MD was essentially a ruse used by the company to avoid paying its obligations, making it clear that these narrations could not be believed.

The Receiver further stated that without Fuzak’s consent, GH 14 million previously debited to his account was moved to the shareholders’ account of Unibank on January 26, 2016.

Nii Dodoo claimed that even though the transaction appeared on Fuzak’s regular account statement, Fuzak had not yet filed a formal complaint.

He had previously claimed in testimony that the bank had created bogus loans of more than GH 1 billion in the names of actual customers.

Then-Head of Corporate Banking, Mrs. Elsie Dansoa Kyere, and Mr. Ofori deducted the funds that had been credited.

Additionally, he informed the court that these false loans were developed using memoranda produced by Mr. Jeffrey Amon, Mr. Ofori, and Mrs. Danssoa Kyere.

Source: 3News