Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, a former CEO of MASLOC, will spend the next ten years behind bars with hard labour.
The sentencing was made in court on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.
She has been sentenced together with the former Chief Operating Officer of MASLOC, Daniel Axim, who is to spend five years behind bars with hard labour.
They were both found guilty on 78 counts of causing financial loss to the state, stealing, conspiracy to steal, money laundering, and causing loss to public property in contravention of the public procurement law.
The two have been on trial since 2019.
According to a report by citinewsroom.com, the state called six witnesses in all, with Sedina Tamakloe tried in absentia since she absconded after obtaining the permission of the Accra High Court to seek a medical checkup outside the country.
Background:
The prosecution alleged that the defendants embezzled GHS3.19 million during their tenure at MASLOC and caused a deliberate financial loss of GHS1.97 million to the state. Additionally,
they were accused of making unauthorized commitments, resulting in financial obligations totalling GHS61.74 million for the government.
Furthermore, the charges included GHS22.15 million in public property loss, improper payment of GHS273,743, and laundering of GHS3.7 million.
In a significant development, the court granted the prosecution’s request to proceed with the trial in Attionu’s absence on February 24, 2023. This decision came after Attionu was permitted to travel to the United States in 2021 for medical treatment but failed to return.
Prior to the trial in absentia, on January 24, 2023, the court ordered former Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) CEO Alex Mould and actor Gavivina Tamakloe to pay a GHS5 million bail bond to the state due to their inability to produce Attionu, for whom they acted as sureties.
According to the prosecution’s account, in 2017, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) investigated fraudulent disbursements of MASLOC funds involving Attionu and Axim.
The
investigations revealed that in June 2014, MASLOC invested GHS150,000 in Obaatanpa Micro-Finance Company Limited, a licensed Tier II microfinance company in Ejura, Ashanti Region.
Attionu subsequently offered an additional GHS500,000 investment to Obaatanpa, leading to the issuance of a MASLOC Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) cheque worth GHS500,000 to Obaatanpa on July 24, 2014.
Upon receipt of the cheque, Attionu allegedly demanded a 24% interest rate from Obaatanpa. When Obaatanpa refused, Attionu demanded a cash refund. Obaatanpa obliged, returning GHS500,000 in cash to Attionu on August 28, 2014.
Despite acknowledging receipt of the refunded sum in a letter dated August 28, 2014, investigations revealed that MASLOC had no record of the repayment. It was alleged that Attionu appropriated the GHS500,000 for personal use.
Additionally, in 2015, MASLOC demanded interest payments on the principal investment from Obaatanpa despite the earlier refund. Subsequent investigations showed discrepancies, sugge
sting Attionu’s misappropriation of funds.
Source: Ghana Web
