The founder of the defunct Beige Bank, Michael Nyinaku, has been acquitted of all 43 criminal charges brought against him in relation to the alleged theft of GHC1.2 billion in depositor funds.
A court in Accra ruled that Mr Nyinaku had no case to answer, effectively bringing an end to one of Ghana’s most high-profile financial sector prosecutions following the 2018 banking sector reforms.
Mr Nyinaku had faced charges including stealing, fraudulent breach of trust and money laundering, all of which were dismissed due to what the court described as insufficient evidence from the prosecution.
Background to the case
Beige Bank’s licence was revoked by the Bank of Ghana in August 2018 as part of a sweeping clean-up of the financial sector. The central bank cited serious regulatory breaches and placed the bank under receivership, prompting a criminal investigation into its operations.
Prosecutors accused Mr Nyinaku of orchestrating the diversion of more than GHC1.2 billion between 2015 and 2018 through various companies under his control.
Among the allegations were:
- The transfer of GHC448 million from customer fixed deposit accounts to Beige Capital Asset Management (BCAM), a company owned by Mr Nyinaku;
- The movement of GHC141 million from 35 deposit accounts into the Beige Group, also owned by him;
- The creation of a fictitious First Africa Savings & Loans account used to divert GHC320 million;
- Multiple internal transactions conducted through memos and vouchers.
Despite the scale of the allegations, the court concluded that the evidence did not support a case for conviction, and acquitted Mr Nyinaku on all counts.
