The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has strongly criticised the Attorney-General’s decision to accept a 60% uniBank recovery settlement in the high-profile case involving former Finance Minister Dr Kwabena Duffuor and seven others.
The Attorney-General’s Department justified the decision, stating that more than half of the funds and assets had been retrieved, and further prosecution no longer served the public interest. However, Mr Braimah argues that such a move sends the wrong message about accountability in Ghana’s justice system.
“I think if we are going this way, if I misappropriate GHS100 million or something to that effect, and then in the end, I know that the system is such that if I put forward even not 60% but 70% of whatever has been taken, I am going to do away with 30%,” he remarked during an interview on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show.
He continued, “If it involves GHS100 million and I manage to give out GHS70 million, I can keep the GHS30 million for free — then that is an incentive to engage in all sorts of things.”
The case in question, The Republic v. Kwabena Duffuor & 7 Others, relates to the collapse of uniBank and was part of Ghana’s broader financial sector clean-up that began in 2018. The accused were facing multiple charges, including theft and money laundering.
Mr Braimah expressed concern that such settlements, if not transparently managed, may embolden others to engage in financial misdeeds, believing they could escape serious consequences by simply refunding part of the stolen money.
“Is that the kind of country we want to build, where it is okay to steal, loot, or misappropriate? If you are not caught, you get away with it, and if you are caught, you refund 60% or 70% and keep the rest?” he questioned.
The Attorney-General recently entered a nolle prosequi to discontinue the trial, citing substantial recoveries made under Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL), a strategy focused on non-conviction-based asset recovery.
But Braimah warned that the absence of deterrent punishment could harm public confidence and create an atmosphere where financial crime is no longer feared.
“If this is how we’re going to go about it, then there is actually an incentive to steal from the State, because there is no sanction, there is no deterrent, there is no accountability… really, I think there is an incentive for many people to do a lot of things against this country.”
