A banker was sentenced to twelve years in prison by the Tema Circuit Court “B” for theft.
Prince Sam Essuman, a member of the Ecobank Ghana Ltd personnel, was convicted of nine charges of sealing. He embezzled funds belonging to SIC Ltd and other bank customers.
According to the prosecutor; DSP Asamani, the modus operandi of the convict was to receive money and deposit slips from the affected customers, stamp the deposit slips and return a copy to the customers.
He would, on the other hand, neglect to credit the customers’ bank accounts and delete the bank’s copy of the deposit slip, preventing the bank from knowing that any money had been put.
Customers will only become aware of the theft when they reconcile their accounts.
In sentencing the convict, the court, Her Lordship, Mrs. Bertha Anin-Agyei, remarked that, according to the Bank of Ghana fraud report, there is an increase in bank fraud, and that most of the time, it is employees who are the perpetrators or who assist others in committing such crimes.
She stated that the courts must impose a deterrent term in order to dissuade other bankers from committing similar crimes and to retain public confidence in the banking industry, as banks are critical to a country’s GDP growth.
On each of the nine offenses, the offender was sentenced to 12 years in jail, with the sentences to run concurrently.
