AG justifies Duffuor case withdrawal, breaks down GH¢2bn recovery plan

The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, has provided a detailed explanation of the structured repayment arrangement that led to the discontinuation of the criminal case against former Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and seven others.

Speaking at a sectoral update on Monday, July 28, Dr. Ayine said the decision to enter a nolle prosequi—a formal notice to discontinue prosecution—was informed by progress in asset recovery efforts and the legal complexities surrounding the case.

According to him, after extended negotiations, the accused proposed a structured settlement of their revised obligations, which totaled GH¢3.3 billion. The proposal involved repaying GH¢2 billion as full and final settlement through a combination of asset transfers and cooperation in recovering funds from third parties.

“By a letter dated May 7, 2025, the accused persons proposed to pay GH¢2 billion through a structured arrangement,” Dr. Ayine stated.

“They agreed to transfer GH¢800 million worth of assets directly to UniBank, currently under receivership, and to assist in recovering an additional GH¢1.2 billion from third-party beneficiaries who received payments under their instructions.”

He disclosed that GH¢844 million in landed properties had already been handed over to UniBank. Of the GH¢1.2 billion expected from third-party recoveries, GH¢500 million has already been retrieved, with the remaining GH¢700 million expected within 18 months—alongside proceeds from the asset sales.

The Attorney-General’s Office considered several key factors in assessing the settlement proposal:

1. Fictitious Entries Preceded Official Receivership: The receiver of UniBank acknowledged that fictitious accounting entries inflated the bank’s assets by about GH¢2.1 billion before it was placed under official administration.

2. Pending Civil Claims: A GH¢300 million claim filed by the receiver in 2019 with the Official Liquidator remains under the insolvency process.

3. Prolonged Litigation: The combined civil and criminal cases have dragged on for over six years, with limited results due to the complexity of the proceedings and difficulties in tracing assets early on.

4. Risk of Diminishing Returns: Dr. Ayine noted that continued litigation risked yielding lower net recoveries and undermining the objectives of the financial sector reforms.

The discontinued case—The Republic v. Kwabena Duffuor & 7 Others (CR/0248/2020)—was among several initiated during Ghana’s financial sector clean-up, which aimed to recover public funds and hold responsible parties to account. The government had set a 60% recovery threshold as a condition for reassessing the need for prosecution.

“It is important to make clear that when someone is charged with causing financial loss to the state, it does not imply that they took the resources that have been lost,” Dr. Ayine emphasized.