Mobile banker jailed 6 years for forgery and stealing GHC162,700

An Adentan Circuit court has sentenced a mobile banker to six years for embezzling GHC162,700 belonging to customers of a rural bank.

Grace Addy, 29, is said to have collected the money and channelled the money through other mobile money accounts for her personal use and to facilitate her travelling abroad.

Charged with forgery of documents, and two counts of stealing, Grace pleaded guilty.

Grace was sentenced to two years imprisonment on the charge of forgery of documents, three years on the charge of stealing GHC20,000, belonging to customer and six years for stealing GHC142,700.

Sentences are to run concurrently, the court presided over by Mrs Sedinam Awo Balokah said.

Prosecution led by Chief Inspector A. Fosu told the relieving Judge that the complainant was the Manager of the Rural Bank name withheld at Madina.

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

The court heard that the complainant reported that on December 27, 2023, an audit was conducted on the activities of the accused.

It said the audit revealed that the accused person had stolen an amount of GHC142,700, belonging to the bank’s customers, which she had collected from customers but failed to account for the money to the bank.

Prosecution said during investigations, it was realised that the accused person between the months of January 2023 and December 21, 2023, collected money from the bank’s customers but failed to deposit the money with the bank.

According to prosecution, the accused person, rather transferred the money to other mobile money numbers for her personal use.

The accused forged receipts of payment to a customer known as Salifu Alhassan which she interpolated GHC20,000 issued from the bank to GHC40,000 before handing over same to the customer, creating the false belief that she had paid GHC40,000 to the bank, the Prosecutor said.

Prosecution said the accused person voluntarily informed the Police that she indeed stole a total of GHC162,700 and that she had given same to some three men who had charged her $16,000 to facilitate her travelling abroad but failed to lead the Police to those three men.

In her charged statement, the accused person mentioned that she gave the entire money to one Hamisu at Libya Quarters, Madina to process the travelling documents for her and not the three men.

Prosecution said accused indicated that she had in mind to pay the customers after her arrival abroad.