GRi Business, Economics
& Finance 10 - 09 - 2003
Banker granted bail in SSB bank scandal
Your accounts are safe - SSB Bank
About ¢752.4bn of HIPC fund released so far
Banker granted bail in SSB bank scandal
Accra (Greater Accra) 10 September 2003 - Bernard Ofori, a Banker of the Social Security Bank, who is standing trial at an Accra Circuit Court for siphoning ¢1.4bn from the Bank was on Tuesday granted ¢800m bail to reappear September 22.
Ofori, who is with the Information Technology Department of the Bank, has pleaded not guilty to forging documents and stealing.
The Court chaired by Willy Wise Kyeremeh ordered the accused to report twice in a week to the Police. Granting the bail Kyeremeh said he took into consideration the accused person's six vehicles currently in Police custody. He, however, advised the Defence not to ask for adjournment, saying, "I will not tolerate any adjournment, if you absent yourself from the Court the case will still go on".
He asked the Police to expedite in their investigations to ensure a speedy trial. Earlier Defence Counsel, Maurice K. Ampaw, repeated his application for bail since his client had appeared a number of times before the Court. He told the court that his client had a fix place of abode; married with three children and would not abscond, saying that he would assist the Police in their investigations.
The facts as presented by Police Inspector Benette Sarfo, are that on 26 August, SSB detected that payment vouchers had been manipulated and figures had been inflated in the credit balances of some customers and monies totalling ¢1.4bn had been stolen from the Bank.
The Prosecution said the Bank also detected that Ofori connived with some customers of the Bank, who were yet to be apprehended, and manipulated the Bank's computer software. The accused also changed figures on payment vouchers. Figures that read ¢300,000 were changed to read ¢30m while those of ¢55,000 were changed to read ¢55m.
Police said they had recovered six vehicles including two BMW cars, which he
used part of the money to buy. The Prosecution said the Bank also recovered
¢32.5m from the accused when he was arrested.
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Your accounts are safe - SSB Bank
Accra (Greater Accra) 10 September 2003 - The Management of the SSB Bank has given an assurance to its customers that their accounts are secure and would in no way be affected by the recent fraud discovered in the Bank. It said the Bank is constantly on the look out for such occurrences and would not condone it, adding, "the customers mentioned in the said stories are accomplices."
A statement by Pierre Andre Taulet, Managing Director of SSB Bank, said it is the Bank's avowed aim to protect the interest of customers and shareholders at all times. He said the Bank would not relent in its efforts to expose all fraudulent practices and ensure prosecution, notwithstanding, the consequences.
Taulet confirmed the stories of fraud totalling ¢2.5bn by two Information Technology employees saying; "we are aware of the occurrence of fraud ... which is unfortunately part of the risk inherent in banking and other financial transactions all over the world".
He said often such matters are not published by some, "but we will not cover anyone. Our policy is against compromising staff involved in such frauds or any other arrangements aimed at covering up". He explained that it was because of this that the Bank agreed to prosecute the individuals within a matter of days after uncovering these criminal acts, indicating, " the fraudulent acts were discovered by our branch staff".
He said since Societe General took over, in March 2003, it has waged war on
fraud and has taken several measures to review its internal procedures and had
reinforced the Inspection Department with new staff.
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About ¢752.4bn of HIPC fund released so far
Accra (Greater Accra) 10 September 2003 - Government has so far allocated ¢752.4bn under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Funds, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, said this when he took his turn at the "Meet-the-press" series in Accra.
He said ¢266.79bn of the amount was released in 2002, adding that ¢485.61bn was released between January and end of August 2003.
He said a total of ¢513.47bn has been allocated for use by the various Sector Ministries of which ¢157.53bn went to local government agencies, notably, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.
Osafo-Maafo said ¢81.4bn had also been allocated for domestic debt reduction while $135.9m, about ¢1.14trillion had been lodged into the HIPC Account at the Bank of Ghana as at June last year.
"The amount was received from multilateral creditors such as the World
Bank, African Development Bank, IMF, European Union and Paris Club
creditors."
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