Retired Ministry of Trade and Industry accountant in police custody for alleged embezzlement

A retired senior accountant at the Ministry of Trade and Industry has been remanded in police custody for allegedly stealing 202,000 cedis.

An Accra Circuit Court presided over by Aboagye Tandor on Tuesday remanded Edmond Agbota who plead not guilty into police custody.

The prosecutor of the case Police Chief Inspector Kwabena Adu told the court that the complainant is the chief accountant at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Between January and December 2015, the internal auditor at the ministry audited the suspect and found out that over 98,000 cedis could not be accounted for in the ministry’s voucher file.

The audit showed that the suspect made payments for third party services, staff honorarium, and allowances but the parties involved never receive the monies.

The prosecutor also told the court that the accused withheld taxes to be paid to the Ghana Revenue Authority yet cheques were written and signed in favour of the GRA but the money totaling 120,299.40 never got to the GRA.

Agbota was arrested following the complaint to the police and he admitted to giving an amount of 90,000 cedis to his friend who lives at Spintex but could not lead the police to the exact location.

He will reappear before the court on 24 of May.