A court warns the alleged accomplice of Masloc's former CEO after being absent for his trial

General News of Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-07-30

The Accra High Court warned Daniel Axim, a head of MASLOC (Microfinance and Small Loans Center), who is being tried with a former MASLOC CEO, Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, on allegations of financial losses for l & # 39; State.

The court, chaired by Judge Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, warned Axim today (Tuesday, July 30, 2019) not to show up at the last hearing on July 15th.

Justice Asare -Botwe said she would not hesitate to cancel the bail of Axim if he did not show up at the trial

"If someone tries to refrain from participating in a criminal trial, I will consider that the person violated his bail conditions and I will enforce the law," said the judge. Botwe.

To make sure that Axim does not leave the country, the court changed his bail conditions by ordering him to report to the police every Monday.

Bench Mandate

On July 15, the court issued an arrest warrant against Axim, who did not attend the trial.

At today's hearing, Axim was in court.

His attorney, Mr. Augustines Obour, has pleaded with the court to pardon his client.

He explained that that day he was in court with his client but was told that the trial had not yet taken place.

Charges

Attionu pleaded not guilty to 78 counts of causing a financial loss to the state, theft, violation of the law on government procurement, while Axim also pleaded not guilty to conspiring with Ms. Attionu to allegedly cause a financial loss to the state.

Case of the Prosecution

The Attorney General's Office (A-G) has a litany of allegations against Attionu and Axim in the facts that accompanied the indictment filed in court.

For example, she accused Ms. Attionu of diverting 500,000 GH ¢ from a company that had received MASLOC support in 2014.

It is the case of AG that MASLOC has granted a loan of 500 000 GH ¢ to the company Obaatanpa Micro-finance Limited, but that it has been repaid because of the high interest rate of 24%. of the loan.

According to the A-G, Obaatanpa Limited presented a check for 500 000 GH ¢ to Attionu, but she refused and asked for a cash payment.

"A cash amount of 500 000 GH ¢ was handed over to the first accused (Attionu) by the chairman of Obaatanpa's board of directors on the night of 28 August 2014 at Baatsona's total filling station located on the Spintex road in Accra.

"By letter of August 28, 2014, the first accused (Attionu) acknowledged receipt of the refund. The investigations subsequently showed that MASLOC had no record of the amount paid to it and that Attionu had allocated the amount of 500 000 GH ¢, "said A-G.

Another charge of the AG is that in April 2016, MASLOC's board of directors approved a sum of 1.7 million GH ¢ to be used for outreach to the scale 85,300 beneficiaries of MASLOC, but Attionu and Axim withdrew 1.82 million GH ¢ from the MASLOC accounts for the awareness program.

"The investigations revealed that, of the 1.82 million GH ¢, only 1,300 GH ¢ were spent to refresh some beneficiaries in the regions of Volta, Greater Accra and Brong Ahafo and that no program has been put in place in the other seven regions.

"The investigations also revealed that prior to the Jury's approval, the first accused (Attionu) had appropriated 246,280 GH ¢ for training, awareness raising and financial literacy", said the AG.

Kantamanto fire support

This is also the case of the AG which, in 2013, following a fire at the Kantamanto market, President John Mahama then asked MASLOC to provide badistance of 1.46 million GH ¢ to the victims of the disaster, but Attionu has diverted some of the money.

"The money, however, had to be disbursed through Dwadifo Adamfo Savings and Loans Company Limited (Dwadifo Adamfo). Investigations have shown that the first accused (Attionu) had appropriated 579,800 GH ¢ out of the 1.46 million GH ¢, "said the A-G.

Allegations of breach of supply

The AG further stated that Attionu had inflated the price of some items bought by MASLOC during its tenure and, in some cases, had signed public contracts without the approval of the company. Public Procurement Authority.

According to the GA, on December 6, 2016, Attionu signed a contract with Mac Autos to supply MASLOC with 350 vehicles without the approval of the PPA.

The vehicles, he added, included Chevrolet Sparklite cars, Isuzu buses and Chevrolet Aveo cars.
"The unit price offered by Mac Autos to MASLOC for the Chevrolet Aveo was GH ¢ 74,495 ($ 18,883.39).

However, investigations revealed that the actual retail price offered by Mac Autos for the same model in the same tax-free year was GH ¢ 47,346.93 ($ 12,009.91).

"The unit price offered for the Chevrolet Sparklite was 65,095 GH ¢ (16,500.63 USD) while the actual price offered by Mac Autos during the same period, without duties, amounted to 35,918.37 GH ¢ (9,104.77 USD).

For Isuzu buses with 33 seats, the unit price offered to MASLOC was 445,560 GHAC (US $ 112,942.96), but the actual retail price before tax was GH ¢ 293,877.55 (74,493.67). USD), said the agency.

Again, the A-G accused Attionu of having inflated the price of 200 mobile phones purchased by MASLOC for a project in November 2016, known as the PINCO Project Market Survey.

"The investigations revealed that even though the actual price of the phones in the open market was 24,400 GH, the first accused (Attionu) bought them at a price of 93,412 GH ¢," added A-G.