Mobile banker jailed 6 years for stealing GH¢162,700

The Adentan Circuit Court has sentenced a mobile banker to six years impris­onment for stealing GH¢162,700 belonging to customers of a rural bank.

Grace Addy, 29, allegedly collected the money and channeled it through other mobile money accounts for her personal use and to facilitate her travelling abroad.

The accused, who was charged with forgery of documents, and two counts of stealing, pleaded guilty.

The court presided over by Mrs Sedinam Awo Balokah sentenced Grace to two years imprisonment for forgery of documents, three years for stealing GH¢20,000 be­longing to a customer and six years for stealing GH¢142,700. Sentenc­es are to run concurrently.

Chief Inspector A. Fosu told the court that the complainant was the Manager of the rural bank, at Madina, Accra.

Prosecution said accused was an employee of the bank, who col­lected the bank’s customers’ money directly at their various places of abode and workplaces.

Chief Insp Fosu said that the complainant reported that when an audit was conducted into the activities of the accused, it revealed that she (accused) had stolen GH¢142,700, which she collected from customers of the bank, but failed to account for the money.

The court heard that during investigations, it was realised that accused between January and December 2023, collected money from the bank’s customers but failed to deposit the money with the bank.

According to Chief Insp Fosu, accused rather transferred the money to other mobile money numbers for her personal use.

The prosecution said accused forged receipts of payment to Sali­fu Alhassan, customer of the bank, and she (accused) interpolated GH¢20,000 issued from the bank to GH¢40,000 before handing over same to the customer, creating the false belief that she had paid GH¢40,000 to the bank.

Chief Insp Fosu said accused voluntarily reported to the police that she stole GH¢162,700, which she gave to three men, who had charged her $16,000, to facilitate her travelling abroad, but failed to lead the police to those three men.

The court heard that, however, in her charged statement, accused mentioned that she gave the entire money to Hamisu at Libya Quar­ters, Madina, to process travelling documents for her and not the three men.

Chief Insp Fosu said accused indicated that she intended to pay the money she collected from the customers after her arrival abroad. —GNA

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