Ato Essien Bail Pending Appeal. The founder of the now-defunct Capital Bank, William Ato Essien, is set to temporarily walk free after the Court of Appeal granted him bail pending the outcome of his appeal against a 15-year jail term. This dramatic development comes after months of legal battles following his conviction for embezzling funds belonging to the collapsed bank.
On Wednesday, July 30, 2025, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, chaired by Justice Anthony Oppong, approved Essien’s bail application. He was granted bail to the tune of GH¢10 million, backed by two sureties. As part of the conditions, he is required to deposit his passport at the court’s registry and report monthly to the Registrar of the court.
Essien is currently serving a custodial sentence for misappropriating liquidity support funds granted to Capital Bank by the Bank of Ghana. The High Court found him guilty of multiple counts of stealing and money laundering, marking him as the first bank executive to be jailed after the 2017 banking sector clean-up that led to the collapse of seven local banks.
However, his legal team successfully petitioned the Court of Appeal, citing a miscarriage of justice and invoking Section 33 of the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459), which allows convicts to be granted bail while an appeal is under consideration. Importantly, the Act clarifies that any time spent on bail will not count toward the sentence if the appeal fails.
Essien had initially applied for bail through the same High Court that convicted him, but that request was denied. His legal team then turned to the Court of Appeal, arguing that his continued imprisonment while the state retains the GH¢43.7 million he has already paid in restitution is unjust.
According to his lawyers, “It will be clearly absurd and occasion the applicant a gross miscarriage of justice if the Republic benefits from part of the agreement and still exacts a custodial sentence, putting the applicant through the double jeopardy of losing over GH¢43 million and suffering jail time.”
The defense further highlighted Essien’s deteriorating health as a compelling reason for the court to grant him bail pending appeal. They stressed that if he were to remain incarcerated, his condition could worsen irreversibly an outcome that could not be rectified even if his appeal eventually succeeds.
Essien’s conviction stemmed from his failure to fulfill a restitution agreement with the state under Section 35 of the Courts Act. After pleading guilty in December 2022 to misusing over GH¢90 million in liquidity support from the Bank of Ghana, he entered an agreement with the Attorney-General to repay the amount to avoid jail.
He initially paid GH¢30 million in December 2022 and was expected to settle the remaining GH¢60 million in three equal installments by December 2023. However, by the time of his sentencing in October 2023, Essien had defaulted on the scheduled payments, managing only an additional GH¢7 million far short of the GH¢40 million due by that date.
Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, who presided over the High Court trial, warned that failure to meet the agreed payment deadlines would result in custodial sentencing. When Essien failed to deliver, the Attorney-General invoked the same legal provision to enforce the jail term.
By the time he was sentenced, Essien had paid a total of GH¢37 million, leaving a balance of GH¢53 million outstanding. Despite this partial restitution, the state proceeded with the custodial sentence, a decision now under scrutiny at the Court of Appeal.
Whether Essien’s appeal will overturn his conviction remains uncertain, but for now, he will regain his temporary freedom under strict bail conditions as the legal process continues.
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