Ex-CEO of Venture Capital, Daniel Duku
A former Chief Executive Officer of Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF) under the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama administration, Daniel Duku, and two others have been convicted by an Accra High Court for causing financial loss to the state.
Mr Duku, his Executive Assistant, Irene Anti Mensah, and her husband, Frank Aboagye Mensah, have accordinlgy been ordered to pay a restitution of about GH₵18.5m to the state.
The order follows admission of guilt and an agreement reached with the Attorney-General (A-G), per Section 35 of the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459).
Mr Duku and five others were facing trial for stealing GH₵42.8 million.
The other accused persons are, however, yet to make known their intentions. They are Richard Lassey Agbenyefia, a former Member of Parliament for Keta and a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Fund; Kofi Sarpong, who was an investment officer of VCTF; and Charity Opoku, also known as Charity Ameyaw, an accountant at VCTF.
Ruling
The court, presided over by Justice Anthony Oppong, had earlier rejected a restitution agreement, and ordered the trial to commence.
The three, however, filed a review of that decision, which the court later agreed to.
Mr Duku, per the agreement as enforced by the court, will have to pay GH₵15million and $26,063 to the state.
The court has also imposed a fine of GH₵500,000 on him, while all the assets he acquired during his tenure as CEO of VCTF have also been confiscated.
Regarding Irene Anti Mensah, the court ordered her to pay GH₵1.5million, and imposed a fine of GH₵100,000 on her. The court further ordered Frank Aboagye Mensah to pay GH₵1,195,000 and imposed a fine of GH₵100,000 on him.
All the convicts were ordered to pay a percentage of the amount within seven days and the remaining within three months after their conviction.
Per Section 35 of Act 459, if the convicts refuse to pay the restitution within the stipulated period, the court will impose a custodial sentence on them.
Illegal loan scheme
According to the facts of the case, Mr Duku facilitated the recruitment of Irene and Sarpong, who were his work colleagues at the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority (GIPA).
Upon assumption of office, he introduced a loan scheme, called Development Assistance Fund (DAF), to provide credit directly to individuals and companies, in clear contravention of the VCTF Act and contrary to the objects of the Fund.
Despite the advice of solicitors of VCTF on the illegality of the proposed loan scheme, Mr Duku allegedly managed to obtain the approval of the Board for the establishment of the scheme.
According to the prosecution, he, by approval of the Board, could only approve loans not exceeding GH₵30,000. The Board also approved strict guidelines under which the loans were to be disbursed.
An amount of GH₵1million, which was later increased to GH₵2million, was approved by the Board as a revolving fund for the DAF project.
According to the prosecution, investigations revealed that Mr Duku disbursed various sums of money under the scheme, which far exceeded the approved amount of GH₵2million.
Source: Daily Statesman
