¢338.5 Million theft case adjourned

December 13, 2007 (Page 50)
Story: Mabel Aku Baneseh
A ¢338.5-million theft case involving three former workers of Yasarko Press Limited, a printing firm in Accra, has been adjourned to January 9, 2008 because the trial judge is on annual leave.
The three, Hanson Lawrence, a former security officer of the Yasarko Press Limited, Joseph Oppong and Christian Aban, both former drivers of the company, were alleged to have acted together to steal ¢338.5 million belonging to the company.
Hanson faces 34 counts of conspiracy and stealing while Oppong and Aban are each charged with one count of abetment of crime.
They have all pleaded not guilty and have since been granted bail by the circuit court hearing the case.
Two mini-buses which Hanson allegedly used the stolen money to purchase have been impounded by the police.
An amount of ¢31 million was also retrieved from Hanson’s bank accounts.
The facts of the case are that on August 17, 2006 the accountant of Yasarko Press Limited detected the theft of 29 cheque leaflets from the company’s cheque books which were normally kept at the Managing Director’s office.
According to the prosecution, the accountant informed the Managing Director, who then followed up to the Dansoman branch of the Standard Chartered Bank where 13 photocopies of stolen cheques were obtained.
Following the arrest of the accused persons, the police retrieved four additional photocopies of stolen cheques from the bank.
It was later found out that a total of ¢338.5 million had been withdrawn from the company’s accounts.
Security cameras at the Dansoman Branch of the Standard Chartered Bank revealed Oppong and Aban cashing money with the stolen cheques on June 23, 2006 and June 28, 2006 respectively at the instance of Hanson.
Forensic examinations revealed that Hanson prepared and signed all the cheques.
Investigations also revealed that Hanson cashed majority of the cheques with Oppong and Aban cashing two of the stolen cheques.
The evidence of four prosecution witnesses have so far been taken.