The State has accused former MASLOC CEO Sedinam Tamakloe Attionu of ” just trying to avoid trial.”
Stella Ohene Appiah, the Principal State Attorney, filed the lawsuit in court on Monday, January 10, 2022.
Mrs. Attionu is on trial in the Financial and Economic Division of the High Court with a former MASLOC Operations Manager, Daniel Axi, for allegedly causing financial loss to the State.
They are charged with 78 criminal offenses in all but have pled not guilty to all of them.
Mrs. Sedinam Tamakloe Attionu was not present in court on Monday when the matter was called. The prosecution was dissatisfied with the development.
Mr. Kwesi Agbesi Dzakpasu, her counsel, informed the court that the former MASLOC chief was still out of the country for medical treatment.
Mr. Dzakpasu, on the other hand, was unable to provide the court with Mrs. Attionu’s current health state or her current US address.
The Principal State Attorney, who was not pleased with the outcome, said that the lawyer did not know the condition of his client and recommended that the former MASLOC commander “be tried in absentia.”
Mr. Dzakpasu, the lawyer, reminded the court, however, that Mrs. Attionu had formally submitted to the court for medical leave and appealed for additional time.
“It is not as if A1 just got up and run away. She made a formal application to the court. I want to plead with the court for some time.”
In approving the lawyer’s plea, the sitting judge, Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe, took the “let’s just wait and see” approach.
Her ladyship postponed the hearing until January 25, 2022.
In January 2019, the government charged Sedina Christine Tamakloe Attionu and Daniel Axim, a former MASLOC Operations Manager.
Among other things, the two were charged with 78 counts of stealing, money laundering, and causing financial loss to the state.
Sedina was dragged to court after disclosures in a forensic investigation of MASLOC activities conducted by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) under the Mahama administration.
When Stephen Amoah took over as CEO of the Centre, he launched the report.
According to the complaint, on July 24, 2014, MASLOC placed GH 500,000 in a 91-day fixed deposit with Obaatampa Microfinance Company Limited at a 25 percent annual interest rate.
However, in a letter dated August 28, 2014, the previous CEO, Sedina Tamakloe, asked the microfinance firm to discontinue the transaction and repay the cash. However, the study proved that the money that was reimbursed could not be tracked.
Mrs. Sedina Tamakloe “should be held responsible for the refund of the amount of GH500,000 with interest in accordance with regulations 61(5) of the Financial Management Act, 2003 (654),” the auditors advised.
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SOURCE: CITINEWS
