Tamale: GHS accountant appears in court for stealing GH¢ 580,288.17

Mr. Osman Jamal-Deen, an Accountant with the Northern Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) will today appear before a Tamale High Court for stealing GH¢580,288.17.

The amount which belongs to his employers was stolen through forgery and refusal by the suspect to bank cash from internally generated funds of the Buipe Polyclinic in the Central Gonja District of the Savannah Region.

He faces two charges of forgery and stealing after series of investigations uncovered that he was culpable in the fraudulent deals that started a little over two years.

The suspect was supposed to have appeared before the court on Monday, May 24, 2021, but was not in court when the case was called with the excuse he had not been notified by the prosecutor.

The Regional State Attorney expressed his disappointment in the police for failing to inform the suspect when they knew the court date 3 clear weeks ago.

The Investigative Desk of MyNewsGh.com that first broke the story has in its possession over 50 NIB forged cheques out of over 100 which are also incorporated in a report by a committee set up by the Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service.

A face value of the numerous cheques reveals a staggering amount of GHC336,599.17 stolen from the Buipe Internally Generated Drug Account with the Tamale Main Branch of NIB.

It would be recalled that MyNewsGh.com a fortnight ago reported how the Medical Superintendent of the facility detected the crime, reported it to the Regional Director and then got the suspect arrested.

The Ghana Health Service then set up a fact-finding committee that audited the embattled accountant and corroborated findings; followed by a disciplinary committee that was set to take him through disciplinary proceedings.

The Disciplinary Committee also did its work and produced a report in August 2020 a copy of which is possession of MyNewsGh.com. However, both the fact-finding committee report and the disciplinary committee reports were only on shelves gathering dust per our checks until recently.

Investigations reveal that the suspect who has since been transferred to the Regional Health Directorate has paid GH¢35,000.00 out of the GH¢580,288.17 he stole through forged cheques and the rest by undeposited funds.