Bank Officer Charged With ¢5.6b Theft

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, 18 August 2006
An accountant of the Standard Chartered Bank, Kofi Attuah-Asante accused of manipulating the bank’s accounts to steal about ¢5.6 billion has again been remanded in police custody until August 22, by an Accra circuit court when he made his second appearance.

Attuah-Asante was first remanded on August 1, on a provisional charge of stealing.

His remand followed a submission by the Assistant Superintendent of Police ASP Emmanuel Amegah that the police were still investigating the matter.

He told the court that there was new developments in the investigation and granting the accused bail could jeopardize investigations.

But defence counsel Musah Ahmed, said his client "is being harassed by the bank officials and police to volunteer information concerning this matter."

The judge however remarked, "It will be prudent if counsel allows the police to go ahead with investigations."

Giving the facts of the case ASP Amegah told the court that the Head of Financial Risk of the bank detected the anomaly which was traced to the accused within this year.

He said the audit exercise is ongoing and "we want him to be remanded so that they will be able to come to the bottom of the matter," the prosecutor had said.