Oyibi Area Community Bank manager granted bail for stealing GH¢1million from customer's dormant account

A 28-year-old banker has been arraigned before the Adenta Circuit Court over allegations that he stole GH¢1 million from Oyibi Area Community Bank PLC.

Adjetey Isaac Noi, a Branch Manager of the bank, is accused of reactivating a dormant customer account without the account holder’s consent and allegedly using it as a transit account to move funds into accounts held at various banks.

The alleged transactions occurred between March and September 2025, according to the prosecution.

Noi has been charged with stealing and pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the court, presided over by Mrs Angela Attachie.

The court subsequently granted him bail of GH¢1 million with two sureties, both of whom are required to justify the bail with landed property.

Counsel for the accused urged the court to grant bail, arguing that Noi was not a flight risk and had a fixed place of residence at Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region.

The case has been adjourned to February 17, 2027.

Presenting the facts, Chief Inspector Maxwell Lanyo told the court that the complainant was the Head of Audit and Inspection at ARB Apex Bank PLC, while Noi was serving as Branch Manager of Oyibi Area Community Bank PLC.

The prosecution said on September 28, 2026, the complainant and a team of auditors conducted an audit and inspection of the Oyibi branch following intelligence suggesting that fraudulent transactions were taking place at the bank.

During the exercise, the auditors allegedly discovered a transfer of GH¢1 million from an internal account of the bank into account number 3061110010021221, registered in the name of Nii Adjei Sowatey at the same bank.

According to the prosecution, the audit team immediately notified the bank’s head office, which instructed the complainant to report the matter to the police.

Noi was subsequently arrested and questioned by the police. The prosecution said he was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the transfer.

Further investigations allegedly established that the dormant account had been reactivated without the account holder’s consent and used as a conduit through which the funds were transferred to accounts at other financial institutions.

The prosecution further told the court that Noi could not account for the transfers during investigations.