Philippine national on bail over a GHC6 million fraud

An Accra Circuit Court has granted a GHC6 million bail to an Assistant System Analyst over an alleged GHC6,289,908.00 fraud.

Mark Anthony Alayon Sapungay, a Philippine, was ordered by the Court presided over by Ms Adelaide Abui Keddy to get three persons to stand as sureties for him with the justification that they will sign a bond to pay the amount involved should the accused person abscond.

Sapungay who denied the fraudulent breach of trust charge and stealing would deposit his passport within ten days before or after the execution of the bail.

He will return to the Court on December 14, 2022.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong told the Court that Hajj Awal Ismail, was a businessman and Director of Aim Global Limited, Industrial Area, North Kaneshie and the complainant.

The accused person, he said, was a Filipino and a representative of a sister company known as Aim Global Philippines, located in the Philippines and worked together with the complainant in Ghana as an Assistant System Analyst.

The prosecution said in 2020, Sapungay dishonestly appropriated GHC6,289,908.00 belonging to the complainant’s company and unlawfully transferred the said amount to the sister company in the Philippines without the complainant’s knowledge, a situation which made the complainant unable to submit his tax returns for the year 2020/2021to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

It said after the complainant had detected the unlawful act, the company conducted an audit into the financial activities of the company and realised that the amount had been stolen from the company’s coffers.

The complainant reported to the police leading to the arrest of the accused person.

The prosecution said during the investigation, the accused admitted in his investigation cautioned statement and stated that he took the money and sent it through a friend without the consent of the complainant to the sister company in the Philippines upon the instructions of his Philippine boss.