Interdicted Operations Manager of Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Daniel Axim, has opened his defence in the trial in which he and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Centre, Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, have been accused of causing financial loss to the state.
Mr. Axim in his defence averred that he has never conspired with Madam Attionu to steal, or stolen any money from MASLOC as contained in the charges.
The two have been accused of stealing a total of GH¢3,198,280 while at MASLOC, and willfully caused a GH¢1,973,780 financial loss to the state.
He opened his defence yesterday and denied all the 55 charges leveled against him, claiming that he was aware the Auditor General has not conducted any auditing into the activities of MASLOC, “and for that matter I have never been surcharged for any wrong doing about the implementation of any of the projects of MASLOC.
“At the same time I do not have the power as the head of operations to arrest a vehicle for non-payment of a loan facility, as the CEO will be instructed to ask me to release the vehicle with apology to the owner or risk dismissal,” Mr. Axim said.
Mr. Axim also claims it appears to him MASLOC is a ‘Father Christmas’ at the discretion of the political head, adding that a Minister of State can minute on a piece of complementary card to him through the CEO for a loan and he must comply.
Explaining the reason behind Madam Attionu giving him a total of GH₵20,000 as contained in his statement to Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), he said the former CEO got to know through an office conversation that he had been married for 11 years without a child so he was spending a lot on medical procedures for his late wife.
“In Fact she knew that it was expensive so she asked me how I was managing that with my small salary. She then decided to give me small assistance any time she felt like doing so,” he stated.
He claimed it was not unusual of political heads to give money to staff on their own because they want votes all the time, “and also they want us to be committed to the work,” Mr. Axim said.
On his role in the sensitisation programmes, Mr. Axim indicated that it was Madam Attionu who introduced sensitisation programmes with T&T with the approval of the board of MASLOC and his job was to help the CEO, so any time there was a sensitisation programme, Madam Attionu will invite him into her office and instruct him to prepare a memo for her to approve.
“So my role was to prepare the memo and after the money is cashed out by the account office, any of us will be called to collect same for A1 (Madam Attionu) and on a few occasions, I did collect the money for her,” he stated.
The accused also indicated that before he was instructed by Madam Attionu to draw a programme for 2016, she had told him at her office that she had conducted the sensitisation in 2015 alone with her team in some regions, and it was very successful so she wanted to replicate the programme in the whole country.
According to the accused, Madam Attionu had told him that she had gotten approval from the General Secretary of her party “since the programme will improve their fortunes in the villages.”
He, however, indicates that although he was still the Head of Operations of MASLOC in 2015, he never knew that the CEO had done sensitisation with the staff and that it was successful.
“I was very surprised when she said that to me and more especially when I saw the figures through the auditor’s report,” he indicated in his witness statement.
He added that, “Upon the instructions, I drafted the programme for her, and she edited it and sent same to the board for approval, and later a copy of the approval was given to me for my necessary actions.”
BY Gibril Abdul Razak