The accused persons are Godwin Komla Amegbe, an Accountant with the Controller and Accountant Generals’ Department (CAGD), and Sonny Eric Adinyira, a staff of CAGD attached to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice.
The others are Mawufemor Wugah, a staff of ASSA Savings and Loans, and Kennedy Antwi, an employee of Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
They were jointly charged with conspiracy to commit crime to wit stealing and defrauding by false pretence.
The accused persons denied the charges and each had been admitted to bail in the sum of GH¢20,000 with three sureties, one to be justified.
An accomplice, Richard Asamoah, staff of CAGD, attached to the Pensions Unit, is at large.
The accused persons are expected to reappear before the court, presided over by Mrs Jennifer Myles Ahmed, on October 30.
Plea for remand
Earlier, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Mr Abraham Annor, prayed the court to remand the accused persons as investigations were ongoing.
However, Mr Godwin Avernogbo, defence counsel, objected to the prosecution’s request, saying the accused persons had been denied access to their counsel while they were in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).
Mr Avernogbo explained that the offence levelled against the accused persons was bailable and as such, the court should not grant its blessing for the accused persons to be remanded.
Facts of the case
Mr Annor told the court that intelligence gathered revealed that some staff of CAGD paid monies into accounts of some persons purported to be beneficiaries of deceased persons, including someone known as Patience Kuwornu, and managed to withdraw the cash.
Based on that in June this year, Amegbe contacted Adinyira to get someone to open an account with the Standard Chatered Bank (SCB), so he could transfer monies into the said account.
Adinyira, therefore, introduced Wugah and Antwi to Amegbe.
The prosecutor said Wugah accordingly opened an account with the branch of SCB at Abeka Lapaz with an initial deposit of GH¢12.00.
Amegbe, the prosecution said, instructed that GH¢77,000 being the pension benefit of Patience Kuwornu be credited to the said account.
On September 16, this year, Antwi and Wugah went to the bank to withdraw the money.
Fake Letter of Administration
However, an official of the bank asked Wugah to produce evidence of the deceased on whose behalf the money was credited.
The prosecution said Wugah produced a fake Letter of Administration, Confirmatory letter and affidavit, to prove that he was a beneficiary of the deceased’s money and on September 16, this year, the bank called Wugah to come and withdraw the money and alerted the BNI.
The prosecution said Wugah and Antwi went to withdraw GH¢35,000.00 and the police managed to arrest Wugah but Antwi escaped. The money was retrieved from Wugah.
The police managed to arrest the other accused persons at separate locations.
Antwi also said during investigations that Adinyira asked him to open an account with the Barclays Bank in March this year and GH¢69,000 was lodged in it.
The prosecutor said further investigation revealed that Patience Kuwornu had never worked with the Ghana Education Service as an Assistant Director of Education.
(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)