Two female accountants working with UQ Hospital, a private medical facility in Takoradi, have been arraigned for allegedly stealing a total amount of GH¢551,732 from the accounts of the hospital.
The accused persons—Linda Nana Donkor and her assistant Magdalene Kugblenu Walagyo—were charged before the Sekondi High Court Two on Tuesday.
However, when the case was called, Linda was not present but the prosecution did not ask for a bench warrant for her arrest.
The facts of the case are that the accountant and her assistant were solely in charge of lodging monies collected from clients of the hospital into the main account of the health facility.
However, an internal audit undertaken in September 2019 revealed that the main financial database of the hospital was tampered with and GH¢551,732.64 was missing or unaccounted for.
The audit further revealed that cash receipts between January and September 2019 were never deposited into the hospital account.
The accountant and her assistant, who have been working with the hospital for the past six and four years respectively, were confronted by management when the anomaly was detected by the auditor on October 11, 2019.
They were subsequently queried but they refused to give any reasonable response. A second query was issued, which was also not replied.
The auditor released the report to the directors of the hospital in November 2019 where the two allegedly admitted wrongdoing but denied allegations of stealing.
The case has been adjourned until January 15, 2020.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi