A High Court in Accra will on Tuesday April 16, deliver its judgement in the trial of former Chief Executive Officer of Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedinam Tamakloe Attionu, and an interdicted Operations Manager of the Centre, Daniel Axim. The two are before the court facing a combined 78 charges including conspiracy, willfully causing financial loss to the state, stealing, causing loss to public property, among others.
Meanwhile, the first accused, Sedinam Tamakloe Attionu has been declared a fugitive of the law, after she failed to return to the country to face trial when she was granted leave by the court to travel for a medical checkup.
Sedinam Tamakloe Attionu, and her co-defendant, Daniel Axim, are both facing 78 counts of conspiracy, stealing, unauthorised commitment resulting in a financial obligation for the government, improper payment, money laundering and contravention of the Public Procurement Act.
They allegedly stole GH¢3,198,280 in total, whiles at MASLOC and willfully caused a GH¢1,973,780 financial loss to the state. Again, the accused persons, according to the facts, while employed at MASLOC made unauthorised commitments resulting in financial obligations for the government to the tune of GH¢61,735,832.50.
The charges against Sedinam Tamakloe Attionu and Daniel Axim, also include GH¢22,158,118.85 loss to public property and improper payment of GH¢273,743.66 as well as money laundering of GH¢3,704,380. The court on February 24, 2023 granted an application by the prosecution to conduct the trial in the absence of Mrs. Attionu, after she traveled abroad in 2021 for medical treatment and never returned.
The court, prior to that, on January 24, 2023, ordered the former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Alex Mould and actor, Gavivina Tamakloe to pay the GH¢5 million bail bond to the state for their failure to produce the accused person whom they stood sureties for.
The prosecution led by Stella Ohene Appiah and Winifred Sarpong, both Principal State Attorneys, called four witnesses to prove its case against Mrs Attionu who, according to court documents, bloated the unit price of Samsung mobile phones purchased by MASLOC and some buses thereby making them too expensive for driver unions to purchase from the company.
Other allegations against the former MASLOC boss stipulates that she, failed to return GH¢500,000 that MASLOC invested in ‘Obaatanpa’, which was later withdrawn due to high interest demanded. According to the state,
investigations further revealed that in April 2016, Sedinam Tamakloe Attionu obtained approval of the MASLOC Board to utilise GH¢1,706,000 of MASLOC funds for a countrywide sensitisation and monitoring programme for 85,300 beneficiaries of MASLOC loans.
Each of the targeted 85,300 beneficiaries was to receive GH¢20 to cover transportation and refreshment. 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 refreshments 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.
Sedinam Tamakloe Attionu is also accused of diverting GH¢579,800 out of a GH¢1,465,035 support by government for victims of the Kantamanto Market fire disaster in 2013. The court on July 31, 2023, ordered the accused persons to open their defence after it held that the prosecution had established a case against them. Mrs.
Attionu’s absence from the country, means she could not open her defence. Her accomplice, Daniel Axim, on February 5, 2024, opened his defence and claimed that he never conspired with his former boss to steal, or stolen any money from MASLOC as contained in the charges.
He denied all the 55 charges levelled against him, claiming that he was aware the Auditor General did not conduct any auditing into the activities of MASLOC, and for that matter he was never surcharged for any wrong doing about the implementation of any of the projects of MASLOC.
He also averred that he did not have the power as the head of operations, to arrest a vehicle for non-payment of a loan facility, as the CEO would have asked him to release the vehicle and apology to the owner or risk dismissal.
According to the second accused, it appears to him MASLOC is a ‘Father Christmas’ at the discretion of the political head, adding that a Minister of State could minute on a complementary card to him through the CEO for a loan and he must comply.
