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Four persons have been arraigned before an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly stealing GH�823,120.70 belonging to the State. The accused, Godwin Komla Amegbe, staff of the Controller and Accountant General�s Department, [CAGD]; Sonny Eric Adinyira, staff of CAGD attached to CHRAJ; Mawufemor Wugah, loan Officer at ASSA Savings and Loans Company; Kennedy Antwi, Zoomlion employee and one Richard Asamoah, CAGD staff with the pensions unit � currently at large � are said to have conspired to steal the said amount. The four are facing additional charges of defrauding by false pretences and forgery of documents, while Wugah and Antwi have both been slapped with stealing. At the trial in the court presided over by Jennifer Myles Ahmed, the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges. DSP Abraham Annor, the prosecutor, prayed the court to remand the accused to enable the police to continue with their investigations. Godwin Avenogbo, counsel for the accused persons, was unhappy that the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) denied the accused person access to their lawyers � a development he described as a breach of their human rights. He said even when Amegbe had earlier been granted bail by the same court the BNI re-arrested him, disregarding the decision of the court. The trial judge however, admitted the accused persons to bail in the sum of GH�55,000 each with three sureties, one to be justified. They are to reappear on October, 30, 2014. DSP Annor told the court that intelligence gathered by the security agents revealed that some staff of CAGD paid monies into accounts of some people purported to be beneficiaries of some supposed deceased persons, including one Patience Kuwornu, and later withdrew the monies. He stated that Amegbe in the month of June 2014, contracted Eric to get somebody for him to open a bank account with any of the branches of the Standard Chartered Bank so that he could transfer some money into it. The police officer said the account was for pension benefits of supposed deceased persons, adding that Eric then introduced Wugah and Antwi to Amegbe. He said Wugah in June 2014, opened an account with the Abeka Lapaz branch of the Standard Chartered Bank with an initial deposit of GH�12,000. The prosecutor stated that Amegbe then instructed that an amount of GH�77,000 be credited the account as pension benefits for the deceased, Kuwornu. DSP Annor said again in August Amegbe informed Wugah and Antwi that the account had been credited with the above amount and on 16 September, they went to the bank to withdraw it. �The presence of Antwi at the bank was to ensure that Wugah did not run away with the money after withdrawal,� he said, stressing that Wugah in an attempt to withdraw the money, was requested by the bank to produce evidence of Kuwornu�s death. According to the prosecutor, Wugah was asked to produce a letter of administration to prove that he could operate the account on behalf of the purported deceased. DSP Annor said the duo went to the bank with a fake letter of administration, an affidavit, a confirmatory letter purportedly prepared by Amegbe bearing the name of Wugah as beneficiary. He said on September16, Wugah had a call from the bank requesting him to go and withdraw GH�35,000. The prosecutor said the BNI was consequently alerted and he was arrested but Antwi managed to escape after the withdrawal. The other suspects were later nabbed.