Tribunal Chairman Embezzles C9 Million

THE chairman of the Koforidua Community Tribunal, George K. Addae and three others are helping the police in their investigations into a case in which they have been accused of embezzling ?9 million belonging to the state.

The rest are Matthew Ampem, Registrar of the Tribunal; Francis Larbi, Circuit Court Registrar and Caroline Gati, deputy chief court recorder. They have been granted police enquiry bail and are yet to be charged.

Narrating the facts of the case in an interview in Accra yesterday, a source at the Judiciary Service said the inspectorate division of the service went on a routine audit check at the community tribunal in Koforidua.

He said the team detected the suppression of revenue in the case of marriage certificates, signing of writ of summons and rent deposits, among other things. He said the registration of marriage with ceremony attracts a fee of ?500,000 while that without ceremony attracts ?400,000 which should be paid into government coffers through the Accountant General?s Department.

The source said between September, last year and July 3, this year all monies collected were put in a deposit account, which were later withdrawn and shared among the four suspects.

According to the source, the suspects diverted all monies to the deposit account for quick withdrawal.

It said the courts perform certain duties, such as the signing of writ of summons, which are not supposed to attract fees but the suspects have been charging people for rendering such services.

It said when the Chief Justice got wind of the embezzlement of the funds, the four were invited to Accra on July 3, this year, for questioning and they admitted the offence.

They were made to write their statements after which they were handed over to the police in Accra for further investigations into the case. The source said the police in Accra, however, declined jurisdiction since the offence occurred in Koforidua and they handed the four over to the Koforidua police.

Meanwhile, the four are currently assisting the police in their investigations.