Defense Lawyers Confront State Witness in Beige Bank Trial Over Alleged Siphoning of Customers’ Funds

The ongoing case involves the founder and CEO of the defunct Beige Bank, Michael Nyineku, who is accused of siphoning customers’ funds and has been charged with stealing GH¢2.1 billion of depositors’ money.

During the trial, defence lawyers confronted the first prosecution witness, Julius Ayivor, a chartered accountant with KPMG and a team member of the Receiver of the Beige Bank, on his claims that the accused had siphoned customers’ funds.

The defense lawyers argued that the witness had not provided sufficient documentation to back up his claims. They pointed out that the witness’s own documents showed payments to some customers whose funds were allegedly siphoned, including Emmanuel Kpobi and Christ the King.

Counsel for the defense argued that the witness had not justified these payments with documentation. The witness explained that the payments were made to BCAM, a licensed financial institution and that it had its own customers. Counsel for the defense argued that the witness could not explain from any records how the payments were made and that his testimony confirmed a relationship between Beige Bank and BCAM, which the witness denied.