Founder of the now-defunct Capital Bank, Mr William Ato Essien, has revealed he was approached by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to buy Capital Bank from him in 2016.

Speaking on Good Evening Ghana on Metro TV, Mr Ato Essien stated that Mr Ofori Atta personally came to him with the proposal.

William Ato Essien argues that if his bank was not being well managed, it would not have attracted interest from Ken Ofori Atta then.

“If the bank [were] that bad, would the current Finance Minister and the Board Chairman of Enterprise, Keli Gadzekpo, come to my office to say: 'We are interested to buy Capital Bank? Ken Ofori-Atta came to my office in 2016 to make that proposal,”  He told host, Paul Adom-Otchere.

Mr Essien also dismissed claims that the Board Chair of the bank, Dr Mensa Otabil lacked the requisite knowledge to lead the Board and direct the affairs of the bank.

Capital Bank was one of the local banks that went under during the recapitalisation exercise undertaken by the Bank of Ghana (BoG).

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) revoked the license of two commercial banks - UT Bank and Capital Bank in August 2017.

The action was triggered by the inability of the two banks to turn around their negative capital adequacy position which has lingered on for some time now.

BoG said the action had been taken against the affected banks due to their “terrible” financial situation and their inability to perform within the banking industry.