Retrieve loot from state officials before jailing them - Anti-corruption crusader

Anti-corruption crusader, Vitus Azeem has proposed to the government to prioritize retrieving stolen state funds from officials before jailing them.

He was responding to the ten-year jail term handed the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu.

She was sentenced to 10 years in prison for hard labour for various acts of stealing that caused financial loss to the state.

The former Chief Operating Officer of MASLOC, Daniel Axim, was also sentenced to a five-year jail term with hard labour.

The two were found guilty on 78 counts relating to causing financial loss to the state, theft, and conspiracy to steal, money laundering, and contravening public procurement laws.

Reacting to the issue, Azeem posited that the first thing the government ought to do is to recover the stolen monies from the persons who are found guilty of financial loss to the state.

“As for sending the person to jail, it should be a second factor. That is penalizing the person for the crime. The state should be interested in getting the money back either in cash or properties acquired by the person over the years.

“So, for me, the priority should be recovering the money. Retrieving the money that has been illegally taken and then of course the person has committed a crime by illegally taking the money, you can now go ahead and jail the person,” he said.

Meanwhile, he has advised the government to extend its probe beyond the two convicts.

“The investigation should go beyond these two personalities. Some people collaborated, some people connived. Some people condoned in this whole exercise and they should be brought to book.”