The trial of Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, the “runaway” former CEO of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), and Daniel Axim, the interdicted Operations Manager of the Center, is scheduled to conclude on April 16, 2024, by a High Court in Accra.
The Office of the Attorney General and defense lawyers have been given until March 22, 2024, by the court, which is presided by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, a Court of Appeal judge serving as an additional High Court judge.
The two are in court on a total of 78 counts, which include theft, conspiratorial damage to state property, stealing, and causing loss to public property, among others.
Since her arraignment for financial damage to the state, Madam Attionu has gone on the run.
The court gave her permission to fly to the United States for medical treatment, but she did not return to Ghana to stand trial.
It is said that during their tenure at MASLOC, they pilfered GH¢3,198,280 in total, purposefully causing GH¢1,973,780 in financial loss to the state.
According to the facts, Ms. Attionu and her accomplice made illegal agreements while in control of MASLOC, which resulted in financial obligations for the government totaling GH¢61,735,832.50.
The two are also accused of GH¢22,158,118.85 in losses to public property, GH¢273,743.66 in unlawful payments, and GH¢3,704,380 in money laundering.
Ms. Attionu escaped to the United States in 2021 and has since refused to return for the trial; on February 24, 2023, the court allowed the prosecution’s request to hold the trial without her presence.
Before that, on January 24, 2023, the court ruled that actor Gavivina Tamakloe and former GNPC CEO Alex Mould had to pay the state GH¢5 million in bail bond because they had failed to produce the accused individual for whom they had served as sureties.
Four witnesses were called by the prosecution, which was led by Principal State Attorneys Stella Ohene Appiah and Winifred Sarpong, to support its case against Ms. Attionu.
According to court documents, Ms. Attionu increased the unit price of Samsung mobile phones that MASLOC had purchased and some buses, making them too costly for driver unions to buy from the company.
Additional charges made against the defendants state that Ms. Attionu neglected to reimburse MASLOC for GH¢500,000 deposited in “Obaatanpa,” which was later withdrawn because of the excessive interest rate required.
The state claims that subsequent investigations showed that in April 2016, Ms. Attionu received consent from the MASLOC Board to use GH¢1,706,000 of MASLOC funds for a nationwide campaign of sensitization and monitoring for 85,300 MASLOC loan recipients.
GH¢20 was allocated to each of the targeted 85,300 individuals to cover transportation and refreshments.
“Between April and December 2016, upon the authority of the 1st accused person, a total sum of GH¢1,816,000 withdrawn in tranches, was received by the 1st and 2nd accused persons even though approval had been given by the MASLOC Board for a sum of GH¢1,706,000.
“Again, investigations revealed that out of the sum of GH¢1,816,000 only GH¢1,300 was spent on refreshment for some beneficiaries in the Volta, Greater Accra and Brong Ahafo Regions only, and that no programme whatsoever took place in the other seven regions,” the facts sheet said.
The previous head of MASLOC has also been charged with embezzling GH¢579,800 from GH¢1,465,035 that the government had provided to victims of the 2013 Kantamanto Market fire calamity.
