Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, has explained in detail why criminal charges previously filed against former Finance Minister Dr Kwabena Duffour and other directors of the defunct Unibank Ghana Limited were withdrawn, insisting that investigations found no evidence of theft or personal enrichment.
Dr Ayine said public discourse on the Unibank collapse had largely been driven by the prominence of the Duffour family rather than the strict legal and evidential standards required to sustain a criminal prosecution.
He explained that a review of cases arising from Ghana’s financial sector clean-up showed that Unibank’s situation differed significantly from others where criminal convictions were properly pursued.
Drawing a comparison with the Capital Bank case, the Attorney-General said investigators uncovered clear and direct evidence of criminal conduct in that matter. Speaking on Starr Chat in an interview with Bola Ray, he said evidence showed that liquidity support provided by the Bank of Ghana was dishonestly appropriated by Capital Bank’s former managing director.
According to him, prosecutors were able to trace how some of the funds were physically transported to a private garage at the managing director’s residence, supported by geographic tracking evidence. He described this as “pure stealing,” noting that such evidence made the Capital Bank case prosecutable.
In contrast, Dr Ayine cautioned against equating bank failure with criminal liability in the Unibank case, particularly where liquidity support was applied through normal 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.
He stressed that risk-taking is central to banking and that loan defaults and business failures, while unfortunate, are not crimes in themselves. Criminal law, he added, cannot be used to punish poor business judgement in the absence of fraud, dishonesty or theft.
Addressing claims that Unibank’s owners looted depositors’ funds, the Attorney-General was emphatic that investigators found no such evidence. He also dismissed allegations of fraudulent breach of trust, explaining that the relationship between banks and customers under Ghanaian law is contractual, not fiduciary.
Dr Ayine further noted that while loans to related or affiliated companies may raise governance or regulatory concerns, they do not automatically constitute criminal conduct unless there is proof of diversion of funds or personal gain.
He said these legal considerations informed the state’s decision to discontinue criminal proceedings against Dr Duffour and other Unibank directors.
However, he clarified that the withdrawal of criminal charges does not absolve the directors of all responsibility. Civil actions initiated by the bank’s receiver are ongoing, and asset recovery remains an option.
Dr Ayine maintained that the Unibank case was never about theft or personal enrichment, a position he said he continues to defend despite public criticism, adding fresh perspective to the ongoing debate over accountability during Ghana’s financial sector clean-up.
