Four Arrested For Allegedly Stealing GH�102,207

Four persons, including two officials of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana (NMCG), have been arrested for allegedly stealing GH�102,207 from the account of the council. The other two are a rubber stamp maker and an official of the Controller and Accountant-General�s Department (CAGD). The police gave the names of the suspects as Gilbert Kwasi Mensah Addison, 56, the accounts officer at the CAGD who is on secondment to the Western Regional branch of the NMCG, and John Donnals, 39, Assistant Internal Auditor of the council. The others are Albert Nantomah, 58, the Head of Finance at the NMCG, Accra, and Daniel Ninson, 28, a rubber stamp maker in Takoradi. Ninson is alleged to have manufactured the stamps used for endorsing bank account pay-in slips to cover up the offence. How money was embezzled Giving details about the case, the Director of the Commercial Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Felix Mawusi, said the suspects were arrested following a complaint by the registrar of the NMCG on November 13, 2014. He said the council reported the theft of GH�102,207 at the Western Regional office of the council in Takoradi. According to him, Addison admitted embezzling the funds during interrogation and claimed that he had used the money to pay off his personal debts. �Police investigations revealed that Addison, who is the accounts officer in charge of the money, failed to pay the money, which he had collected from October 1, 2013 to October 31, 2014, into the NMCG�s account at the Bank of Ghana in Takoradi,� he said. Dates Mr Mawusi said investigations also showed that Addison put fake dates on some of the pay-in slips to indicate cash lodgement with the bank. �For instance, he wrote July 20, 2014, which was a Sunday, and April 21, 2014, Easter Monday, on two of the forged pay-in slips,� he said. Through investigations, Mr Mawusi said, it was established that Addison connived with Ninson to make fake Bank of Ghana receipt rubber stamp for him. �Addison then filled Bank of Ghana pay-in slips on several occasions and applied the fake stamps as if he had lodged the money into the bank account,� he said. He said Nantomah, who is the Head of Finance at the council, was the first to detect the theft �but he purposely failed to report as reasonably expected and covered it up�. �He did nothing in his power to prevent further theft of the council�s money by Addison,� he said. Donnals, who conducted an audit on two occasions at the Western Regional branch of the council, was also said to have detected the theft. However, Mr Mawusi said, Donnals �also refused to report it to management�.