Two in court for stealing

Two members of a Plot Allocation Committee at Akyem Osino on Wednesday appeared before the Mpraeso Circuit Court on charges of stealing GHC 17,760 belonging to the community.

The accused persons are Osae Appiah, 59, a welder and Secretary to the committee, Okyeame Kyei, farmer, while Zakaria Baba, a farmer and chairman of the committee is at large.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy to steal and stealing and were granted bail in the sum of GHC 17,000 each to appear before the court on February 19. A bench warrant has been issued for the arrest of Baba.

The prosecutor, Detective Inspector Christian Apronti, told the court that in September 2010, the Chief of Osino invited members of the committee to render accounts of their stewardship to the community following a complaint by a farmer to the chief.

The prosecutor said while rendering the accounts, members of the committee said they realized GHC 8,000 from allocated to interested people in the community between 2004 and 2010 but the complainant and members of the public disputed the figure and later made a report to the police and the two were arrested.

Appiah and Kyei denied the offences but the complainant later produced two receipt books that the Committee members had issued to people who bought some of the plots but failed to render accounts for those transactions.

Detective Inspector Apronti said after thorough investigation, Appiah and Kyei were charged with the offence.