NIB Boss Freed

Daniel Charles Gyima The boss of National Investment Bank (NIB), Daniel Charles Gyimah can now breathe some air of freedom after being in custody for almost five days even after he was granted bail by an Accra Circuit Court.

This was after the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) executed the bail bond which was said had been ready since Monday.

Gyimah, who is being tried for causing financial loss to the state to the tune of GH¢60,000 and was granted a GH¢500,000 bail with four sureties last Friday, was not allowed to enjoy his freedom even though his lawyers said the sureties were ready.

The accused person, who was brought to the 28 February Road Court also known as Cocoa Affairs Court to await the decision of the BNI on his bail condition, wanted to use his house in Sunyani as surety, but that decision was rejected and a relative had to intervene.

He pleaded innocent to the charge and has been granted bail in the sum of GH¢500,000 with four sureties, one to be justified by the trial Judge, D.E.K. Daketsey.

Before granting him bail, the trial Judge said he took into consideration the admission by the prosecution team that the bank had not yet lost any money by the said transaction.

Mr Daketsey noted that lawyers for the accused person gave the court the assurance that their client would not interfere with investigations, and that he had surrendered his service passport to the BNI.

He said he also took into consideration the admission by the prosecution team that investigations could take a longer time.

The prosecutor in the case is DSP E.P. Frimpong.
The accused person is the MD of NIB and resides at Adjirigano near East Legon.

On May 7, 2007, he unilaterally entered into an agreement with Eland International Ghana in which he used NIB as a guarantor by issuing 30 promissory notes valued at $60,000,000. The notes were to mature on January 29, 2009.

At that same period, Eland International Ghana contacted IROKO Security Company and discounted the $60,000,000 promissory notes to $45,000,000 cash, but after the date, the notes did not mature and there was still no payment to IROKO.

A swift message was therefore sent to NIB for confirmation of the deal upon which the bank checked from its international banking section to confirm.

Investigations by the bank allegedly revealed that most of the documents covering the transaction between NIB and Eland International Ghana could not be traced, a situation which raised suspicions of a scam.

When Gyimah was confronted, he reportedly admitted having guaranteed the deal on behalf of the bank by not contacting the bank's Board of Directors.

He was subsequently arraigned.
Mr. Ken Brookman-Amissah, lead counsel for the accused person, praying the court to grant bail to the NIB boss, indicated that their client only issued promissory notes to Eland which matured just a few weeks ago.

According to him, the accused is leading a negotiation to get Eland to effect the payment, and said there has been no financial loss to NIB as claimed by the prosecution, adding that nobody has called on the bank to pay any money to it.

The case has been adjourned to February 27, 2009.
By Fidelia Achama