Three weeks ago, lawyers for Mr Essien who is the former Chief Executive Officer of Capital Bank intimated to the Commercial Division '7' of the Accra High Court that their client was willing and ready to return about GH¢27.5 million to the state.

The prosecution, then led by the Attorney General (AG), Ms Gloria Afua Akuffo, said the accused engaged in various illegal acts that led to the dissipation of the GH¢620 million liquidity support given to Capital Bank by the Bank of Ghana between June 2015 and November 2016.

According to the AG, GH¢ 130 million of the liquidity support was transferred to MC Management Services, which was later presented to the BoG as the initial capital to set up Sovereign Bank, another bank in which Essien had an interest.

With regard to Quartey-Papafio, the A-G said as part of the scheme to further dissipate the GH¢620 million liquidity support, Essien transferred GH¢ 70 million of the money into Quartey-Papafio's bank account at Cal Bank.

During his application for bail, counsel for Quartey-Papafio, Dr Dominic Ayine, a former Deputy A-G, rebutted the facts presented by the A-G, and described the case as a ground-breaking one in the country's jurisprudence, adding that "this is going to be the first case in the history of this country that stealing has occurred with the consent of the owner,"

Making his case, he argued that the GH¢620 million liquidity support was essentially a loan that was granted to Capital Bank by the BoG, which was supposed to be paid with interest, saying "essentially, this was money belonging to Capital Bank."