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The trial of Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, the former CEO of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), and Daniel Axim, the interdicted Operations Manager, is set to conclude on April 16, 2024, at a High Court in Accra.
Presided by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, a Court of Appeal judge serving as an additional High Court judge, the court has given the Office of the Attorney General and defense lawyers until March 22, 2024, to present their cases.
The charges against the two include theft, conspiratorial damage to state property, stealing, and causing loss to public property, totaling 78 counts. Madam Attionu, who has been on the run since her arraignment for financial damage to the state, was allowed to travel to the United States for medical treatment but failed to return for trial.
During their tenure at MASLOC, it is alleged that they misappropriated a total of GH¢3,198,280, deliberately causing GH¢1,973,780 in financial loss to the state. The prosecution contends that illegal agreements made by Ms. Attionu and her accomplice during their MASLOC leadership resulted in financial obligations for the government amounting to GH¢61,735,832.50.
The charges also include GH¢22,158,118.85 in losses to public property, GH¢273,743.66 in unlawful payments, and GH¢3,704,380 in money laundering.
Ms. Attionu fled to the United States in 2021 and has since refused to return for trial. On February 24, 2023, the court granted the prosecution’s request to proceed with the trial in her absence. Earlier, on January 24, 2023, the court ruled that actor Gavivina Tamakloe and former GNPC CEO Alex Mould must pay the state GH¢5 million in bail bond for failing to produce the accused individual for whom they had served as sureties.
The prosecution, led by Principal State Attorneys Stella Ohene Appiah and Winifred Sarpong, presented four witnesses supporting its case. The charges include Ms. Attionu increasing the unit price of Samsung mobile phones and buses, making them too expensive for driver unions to purchase. Additionally, she is accused of failing to reimburse MASLOC for GH¢500,000 deposited in “Obaatanpa” and embezzling funds allocated for a nationwide campaign.
The former MASLOC head has also been charged with embezzling GH¢579,800 from GH¢1,465,035 provided by the government to aid victims of the 2013 Kantamanto Market fire calamity.
Source: Omanghana.com
