Ghana's top monarch fingered in money laundering case in the UK

Ashantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has been fingered in a potential money laundering case in the United Kingdom in which he said to have deposited £350,000 at Ghana International Bank.

The revered Ashanti King is said to have handed the money to Mark Arthur, an executive director of the bank, at his multimillion-pound residence in Henley-on-Thames, for deposit.

According to the British-based Telegraph, the subsequent deposit of the cash at Ghana International Bank triggered a money laundering alert in the City of London and cost Mr Arthur his job.

The bank said he had failed to follow anti-money laundering rules and had violated security policies as it was only insured to carry cash by armoured car up to a maximum of £250,000, according to the report by the Telegraph.

Mr Arthur, who is under investigation over the development, said in his testimony that Otumfuo told him the money was withdrawn from banks in Ghana and brought to the UK.

According to him, he was handed a bag containing almost £200,000 in sterling as well as $200,000 in US currency with consecutive serial numbers.

He had also instructed Mr Arthur to move $200,000 to an account at Standard bank in Jersey, the report said.

Mr Arthur, fired over the incident, is claiming wrongful dismissal, unfair dismissal and failure to protect a whistleblower.

He alleged the deposit and transfer were approved by Ghana International Bank’s chief executive, Joseph Mensah.

But Mr Mensah has rebuffed the claim, saying he does not have an authority to sanction such as amount.

In his witness statement, Mr Arthur noted that he couldn’t follow the anti-laundering rules when he took the cash from Otumfuo because of his status.

“Without a policy to follow and did without wishing to offend a sovereign of my country, I found myself in a very difficult situation and one I had never been in before.

“I could not carry out the necessary due diligence by talking to His Majesty so decided it would be best to verify the deposits at the bank and to speak directly to Mr Mensah rather than disrespect His Majesty in a face-to-face meeting.”

Read the full report here: