Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) Sedina Tamakloe has been sentenced to a 10-year prison sentence with hard labor.

Also, Daniel Axim, the former Chief Operating Officer of MASLOc, was  handed a five-year prison sentence with hard labor.

They were both found guilty on 78 counts of causing financial loss to the state, stealing, conspiracy to steal, money laundering, and causing loss to public property in contravention of public procurement law.

Background

The convictions come from the theft of monies intended for MASLOC operations between 2013 and 2016.

According to the prosecution, in one case, the convicts withdrew GH₵500,000 from Obaatampa Savings and Loans firm and demanded a return after the organization refused to offer a 24% interest rate.

Although documentation of the return was produced, it was not recorded in MASLOC’s accounting.

Additionally, it was determined that the pair had stolen more than GH¢1.7 million meant for a sensitization campaign, of which only a small portion had been used for the original purpose. Similar to this, money intended to compensate victims of a fire at Kantamanso was not entirely released; a sizeable amount was pilfered by the defendants.

The lawsuit also included spending more money than was reasonable at the time to buy cars and Samsung phones for MASLOC.

Evidence revealed that the quantities paid were more than market prices even if they were purchased in bulk.