I’m ready to refund stolen GH¢580,000 - Embattled accountant begs court

Counsel for the embattled Ghana Health Service(GHS) Accountant, Douglas Kwame Adjei, on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, made an offer to the court to pay back the stolen money and pay reparation to the state.

The Ghana Health Service employee, Mr. Osman Jamal-Deen reportedly forged the signature of the Medical Superintendent of the facility and issued NIB cheques to the tune of GH¢580,288.17.

He was also said to have refused to bank cash generated from the Buipe Polyclinic where he was the Accountant prior to the crime being detected by his superiors.

Under section 35 of the Courts Act, he is allowed plead guilty, pay the amount involved and then pay additional money as reparation or compensation to the state

Meanwhile, a Tamale High Court presided over by His Lordship Richard Kogyapwa on Tuesday remanded him into prison custody to reappear on June 8, 2021.

Background

The Investigative Desk of MyNewsGh.com that first broke the story has in its possession over 50 NIB forged cheques out of over 100 which are also incorporated in a report by a committee set up by the Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service.

A face value of the numerous cheques reveal a staggering amount of GH¢336,599.17 stolen from the Buipe Internally Generated Drug Account with the Tamale Main Branch of NIB.

The Medical Superintendent of the facility detected the crime, reported it to the Regional Director and then got the suspect arrested.

The Ghana Health Service then set up a fact-finding committee that audited the embattled accountant and corroborated findings; followed by a disciplinary committee that was set to take him through disciplinary proceedings.

The Disciplinary Committee also did its work and produced a report in August 2020 a copy of which is possession of MyNewsGh.com. However, both the fact-finding committee report and the disciplinary committee reports were only on shelves gathering dust per our checks until recently.