The Accra Circuit Court-9 on Monday adjourned to February 2 the case involving a medical doctor and two others alleged to have stolen GHC18 million.
This is to allow the substantive judge take over the case.
The Court, presided over by Samuel Bright Acquah, had earlier granted GH¢18 million bail with four sureties each to Patrick Henry Asiamah-Andoh and Job Kwasi Mensah for allegedly stealing GH¢18,600,000 from their employer.
The sureties, the Court ordered, should be resident within the Court’s jurisdiction, they should be public servants earning not less than GH¢2,000, whilst the accused are to report once a week to the Regional Police Command.
Both accused persons pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit crime, to wit stealing and stealing.
Their accomplice, Dr Isaac Musah Addo, was not in court when the case was first called in December 2020.
Chief Inspector William Kwadwo Boateng told the Court that Mohammed Hama was the complainant and the owner of Maiga Oil and a resident of Oshuman in Accra.
He said Dr Addo, currently on the run, is a medical doctor staying at Mamprobi; Asiamah-Andoh was the General Manager of Ezy Oil and a resident of Lashibi, while Mensah, a building technologist, resides at Lakeside Estate, and also an employee of the complainant.
Chief Inspector Boateng said the complainant who held an Oil Marketing Company (OMC) license, owned petroleum stations at Ablekuma and Oshuman.
He said in February 2020, the complainant engaged the services of Dr Addo and Asiamah-Addo to manage his filling stations as well as the OMC license for him.
Prosecution said Mensah also joined the two in March 2020 and between February and March the three withdrew various sums of monies from the complainant’s Stanbic Bank Account.
He said the monies were meant for the payment of taxes to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), totaling GH¢15,000.000, Bulk Oil Storage Transportation (BOST) Company Limited, GH¢600,000 and National Petroleum Authority (NPA), GH¢3,000,000, all to the tune of GH¢18,600,000.
Chief Inspector Boateng said as a result, the GRA, BOST and NPA placed embargo on the complainant’s OMC license, which prevented his filling Stations from lifting fuel, so he queried the accused but they could not account for the monies.
He then lodged a formal complaint with the police, which led to the arrest of the three and after investigations, were arraigned.
Efforts were being made to arrest Dr Addo, prosecution said.
Ms Rebecca Darko, their counsel, who held brief for Boakye Agyemang, informed the Court that Dr Addo had not absconded but was not within the jurisdiction of the Court when they were summoned.
She said the accused had cooperated with the police since their arrest and they had a fixed place of abode.
Ms Darko prayed prosecution to furnish the accused persons with all the necessary documents, which they could rely on for trial.
GNA