The founder and Chief Executive Officer of the defunct Beige Bank, Michael Nyinaku, has been granted bail of GH¢200million by the Financial and Economic Court of the Accra High Court.
Mr. Nyinaku appeared before the Accra High Court on Tuesday, November 8, 2022 to answer charges of theft, money laundering among others, after he was accused of stealing over GH¢340million at a circuit court.
He pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The bail
Calling on the presiding judge, Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe, to grant his client bail, Mr. Nyinaku’s counsel, Addo Tuah, told the court that since 2015 to date the accused has religiously appeared before various investigative bodies – including the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).
He also noted Mr. Nyinaku has never defaulted as and when he was needed, and hence prayed the court to grant him bail.
The Deputy Attorney-General, Alfred Tuah Yeboah, did not oppose to the bail.
The presiding judge therefore granted Mr. Nyinaku’s bail application with three sureties, two to be justified by either a landed property valued by a government valuation body or land valuation division of the Lands Commission.
The case has been adjourned to December 22, 2022 for a case management conference.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nyinaku is to deposit his passport at the court registry and report to the police every Monday and Friday.
Background
Mr. Nyinaku has been slapped with new charges of theft and money laundering after earlier being accused of stealing over GH¢340million at a circuit court.
The facts of the new case at the High Court indicated that when Beige Bank’s licence was revoked in August 2018, a review of the bank bank’s financial and other records revealed some suspicious and unusual transactions which were subsequently reported.
The investigations revealed that between 2015 and 2018, Mr. Nyinaku allegedly used various means to transfer huge sums of money to companies related to him, and for his personal benefit.
The funds transferred were depositors’ funds lodged with Beige Bank, the investigators claimed.
Between 2017 and 2018, Mr. Nyinaku caused the transfer of 10,071 fixed deposit accounts held with Beige Bank – in which various customers placed a total of GH¢448.6million to Beige Capital Asset Management Limited (BCAM) – without the knowledge and consent of these customers.
Investigations also revealed that Mr. Nyinaku, between the years 2017 and 2018, caused the transfer of 35 fixed deposit investments of 23 Beige Bank customers totalling GH¢141million to the Beige Group.
Investigations further revealed that some time in March 2018, Mr. Nyinaku caused a fictitious second account to be opened in the name of First Africa Savings and Loans (FASL), an existing account-holder with Beige Bank, without the knowledge of FASL’s Board and management.
