Someone stole GH¢1.5m and this was Justice Ajet-Nassam’s ruling as reported by the Daily Graphic
The Daily Graphic reported this case in May 2015 and the headline was: Prosecutor protests court sentence; Says it is too lenient.
The prosecutor in a stealing case last Wednesday protested against the ruling of the court which fined the accused person GH¢100,000 for stealing GH¢1.5 million from the accounts of a private company.
Ms Malike Woanyah of the Attorney-General’s (AG’s) Department expressed reservation at the ruling, saying it was too lenient.
The Financial Division of the Accra High Court convicted the General Manager of Mama Adesi Company Limited, Francis Konings Gbanaglo, for stealing GH¢1.5 million from the company’s accounts.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice John Ajet-Nasam, found him guilty on all 13 counts and ordered him to pay the fine or in default spend 25 years in prison.
But Ms Woanyah protested against the sentence.
Judge
However, the judge insisted that he had given his sentence and the A-G had the right to appeal.
Moments after the ruling, a son of the owner of the company, Michael Klutse, told the Daily Graphic: “This ruling is very unfair.”
“The man has stolen GH¢1.5 million for which he has been found guilty and all you ask him to do is pay a fine of GH¢100,000. This is a travesty of justice,” he added.
Mr Klutse said they intended to appeal the sentence.
Facts of the case
Mama Adesi, the complainant, is the Managing Director and sole owner of Mama Adesi Company Limited.
The accused was the accountant and without the consent and authorisation of the complainant, he used the documents of her warehouse, located at the North Industrial Area in Accra, as collateral to secure an overdraft of GH¢594,332.61 from a bank, on which interest accrued to the tune of GH¢682,558.07 as of April 2011.
The bank called the complainant and gave her details of her indebtedness to the bank, but she denied ever taking a loan from the bank and subsequently reported the matter to the police for investigations.
During investigations, a search was conducted in the accused person’s house, during which the police retrieved 55 pay-in slips and other documents belonging to the company.
Investigations also revealed that Gbanaglo had manipulated the company’s cheques and made the complainant, who is illiterate, to thumbprint for some payments and withdrawals.
He succeeded in transferring huge sums of money into an enterprise he owned, Patings Ventures, and another set up by his wife, Patglo Ventures.
In all, GH¢607,097.20 and $210,010 were also transferred to Patglo Ventures.
Gbanaglo had admitted stealing the said amount in his investigative caution statement and promised to refund same.
Source: Daily Graphic