GES Salary Payment Fraud: Teacher, Headmaster and 4 Others Convicted
The Office of the Special Prosecutor has successfully secured the conviction of a teacher, a headmaster, and four other individuals in a Ghc86,000 payroll corruption scheme.
The case stemmed from a referral by National Security to the effect that the first accused person, Yakubu Tahidu, despite no longer being a teacher, continued to receive salaries while employed by another government agency.
The remaining persons were accused of either knowingly facilitating or failing to prevent the fraudulent payments.
The convictions followed guilty pleas entered under the OSP’s plea bargaining framework, leading to full restitution and reparation to the State.
The Office says the GHS 86,000 payments made in the scheme have been recovered.
Case
The convicts have been identified as Yakubu Tahidu, a former teacher of Balogu M/A JHS; Abdulai Abukari Sadic, the Yendi Municipal IPPD Coordinator; and Sammy Suuk, a Schools Improvement Support Officer.
Also included are Mohammed Yusif Jay, the former headteacher of Balogu M/A JHS; Stafford Korletey Azudey-Barres, an Assistant Chief Accounts Technician at the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department; and Osman Issahaku, the current headteacher of Balogu M/A JHS.
According to a statement issued by the OSP last month, Yakubu Tahidu, after vacating his teaching duty to join the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), continued to receive salaries.
The Office furthered that while Abdulai Abukari Sadic and Sammy Suuk were accused of facilitating salary validations for the first accused, Mohammed Yusif Jay, the former headteacher of Balogu M/A JHS, and Osman Issahaku, the current headteacher, validated the salaries.
Additionally, it faulted Stafford Korletey Azudey-Barres, an Assistant Chief Accounts Technician at the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department, for aiding the processing of fraudulent payments.
Their actions led to the wrongful payment of over GHS 86,000.
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
