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5 who duped the nation of ?1m freed

By Joy News | Raymond Acquah
General News 5 who duped the nation of ?1m freed
JUN 24, 2016 LISTEN

An Accra High Court has freed some five staff of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department who conspired with eight non-staff to dupe the stat of È»1 million.

The Financial and Tax court presided over by Justice Afua Serwaa Asare discharged the accused persons after they pleaded guilty to Section 35 of the Courts Act 459 as amended by Act 620 (2002).

The provision allows persons accused of stealing state funds to plead guilty, pay back the money in full and also pay reparation to the state.

Out of a total number of 16 accused persons, 13 have paid a total of Ȼ851,745.68 back to the state. Also, a total of Ȼ300,007.70 worth of compensation have been paid, bringing the total amount paid to Ȼ1,151,753.38.

The five have, however, been dismissed.
The five suspects and 11 other accomplices were accused of generating ghost names on government payrolls to siphon state funds into private accounts.

The accused persons were apprehended and then charged with conspiracy to commit crime, stealing contrary to section 124 of the Criminal Offence Act 29, 1960.

The five accused persons include; Godwin Komla Amegbe, Chief Treasury Officer at the Pensions Computation Unit, Controller and Controller General; Sonny Adinyira, Treasury Officer at the Controller and Accountant General’s Department attached to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and Richard Osei Asamoah, Head of Data Entry Technical Team of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department attached to the Pensions Computation Unit of the Ghana Police Service.

The rest are Daniel Adu Twum who works at the Internal Auditor at the Pensions Unit of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department and Kwasi Alomenu, External Auditor attached to the pensions unit of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department.

Investigations revealed that the accused persons got people to open accounts with some specific banks to deposit monies into them which they would later withdraw.

The account, according to investigations, was for pension benefits of supposed retirees and deceased persons.

Investigations revealed that various sums of monies were deposited into the bank accounts of purported retirees and deceased persons.

The monies which amount to Ȼ1 million were later withdrawn by other members of the syndicate and shared amongst themselves.

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