The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, has entered a nolle prosequi in the high-profile criminal case involving former Finance Minister Dr Kwabena Duffuor and seven others. The accused had been standing trial over their roles in the collapse of the now-defunct uniBank.
The decision, announced on Monday, July 22, 2025, by Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, brings the prosecution to an end, following what the Attorney-General’s Office described as “significant recoveries” of state funds implicated in the matter.
In a statement explaining the move, the Attorney-General’s Office clarified that, although the law does not require an explanation for the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, the decision was made in line with the principles of accountability, transparency, and the public interest.
The criminal trial, officially titled The Republic v. Kwabena Duffuor & 7 Others (CR/0248/2020), was among several instituted after the government launched a financial sector clean-up in 2018 to address systemic insolvency and mismanagement.
“Following prolonged negotiations and engagements, the accused persons in The Republic v. Kwabena Duffuor & 7 Others have met the recovery threshold set by the State,” the statement noted.
According to the Ministry, a 60% recovery benchmark had been established for reconsidering prosecutions in selected cases, in collaboration with agencies including the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO). With this threshold now met, the Attorney-General concluded that continuing the prosecution “would not serve any additional public purpose.”
However, the Office was emphatic that the discontinuation of the case does not exonerate the accused. “This decision does not imply an absence of wrongdoing nor a vindication of any conduct,” it stressed. “It is a pragmatic step in line with the overarching national interest of recovering State resources.”
The Attorney-General reaffirmed his commitment to upholding the rule of law, safeguarding the public purse, and ensuring justice in all matters of national importance.
The prosecution had alleged that Dr Duffuor and other former officials of uniBank, including a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Johnson Asiama, engaged in various financial irregularities.
Court documents indicated that Dr Duffuor personally received GH¢663.3 million (approximately US$122 million at the time), allegedly knowing the funds had been unlawfully obtained.
The Bank of Ghana, in a 2018 report, declared uniBank insolvent, revealing that shareholders and related parties had taken over GH¢5.3 billion in loans and other withdrawals without following proper procedures or obtaining requisite board approvals.
As part of the clean-up, the central bank revoked uniBank’s licence and merged its assets into the newly created Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG), in a broader effort to stabilise Ghana’s financial sector.
Dr Kwabena Duffuor, a prominent economist and politician, previously served as Governor of the Bank of Ghana (1997–2001) and Finance Minister (2009–2013). He was charged in February 2020 with several offences, including theft and money laundering.
The Attorney-General’s decision to terminate the case, even after partial recovery of funds, is likely to provoke extensive debate, particularly in political and financial circles, given the public interest in accountability for the financial sector collapse.
The charges against Dr. Duffuor, a former Finance Minister and the seven others stemmed from the collapse of uniBank Ghana Limited in August 2018, when the Bank of Ghana revoked its licence as part of sweeping reforms aimed at sanitising the financial sector.
The central bank declared the bank insolvent, citing unlawful related-party transactions, a staggering capital deficit, and unsafe practices that put depositors’ funds at risk.
The State alleged that over GH¢5.7 billion had been siphoned from the bank through insider dealings, leading to criminal charges that included willfully causing financial loss to the State, dishonest appropriation of public funds, and money laundering.
The prosecution, which began in 2021, was one of the flagship cases emerging from the government’s broader financial sector clean-up programme.
That initiative affected more than 400 financial institutions, banks, microfinance firms, and savings and loans companies and is estimated to have cost the State over GH¢25 billion in bailouts and repayments to depositors, although the state needed less than that to revive the sector.
Source: theheraldghana.com
