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Crime & Punishment of Tuesday, 5 April 2005

Source: GNA

Two IRS staff in court for stealing

Accra, April 5, GNA - Two workers of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Guest House at Nima in Accra on Tuesday appeared before a Circuit Court for allegedly stealing personal effects of a guest estimated at six million cedis.

Naa Adjetey Sowah, 25, a Receptionist and Daniel Ablorh, 42, a Cleaner, pleaded not guilty to stealing.

The Court presided over by Mr Nathaniel E.K. Osam admitted them to 40 million cedis bail each with two sureties to reappear on April 7. Police Chief Inspector Helena Sarpomah told the Court that on February 27, this year the complainant, Mr Patrick Yeboah, who arrived from London, lodged at the Guest House.

Chief Inspector Sarpomah said sometime in March, Mr Yeboah travelled to Swedru. He locked the door and handed over the key to the Receptionist, but when he returned the following afternoon, the key was not in the pigeonhole at the reception.

The Prosecutor said after a thorough search for the key, Ablor was invited and confronted. The cleaner then retrieved the key from beneath some record books on the counter at the reception.

She said when Mr Yeboah opened the door, he detected to his surprise that two of his suitcases had been tampered with. According to the Prosecutor, personal belongings that were stolen from the suitcases included video and digital cameras, perfumes, two pairs of shoes, a CD player and three mobile phones, all valued at about six million cedis.

Chief Inspector Sarpomah said Mr Yeboah made a report to the Police and during investigations, it came to light that the receptionist went into the room to deposit some washed clothing.

It was also established that the cleaner collected the key under the pretext of cleaning the room without informing the receptionist and he did not leave it in the pigeonhole, but under the record books.