Nii Amanor Dodoo, the Receiver of the defunct Unibank, revealed to an Accra High Court that a total amount of more than GH¢56.2 million was debited from the bank's interbranch ledger account.
During the cross-examination by lawyers representing Mr Jeffery Amon, a former Senior Relationship Manager of Corporate Banking at Unibank, the Receiver clarified that the debited amount was from a general ledger account.
The accused persons in the case face charges of fraudulent breach of trust, money laundering, dishonest appropriation, willfully causing financial loss to the Republic, and conspiracy to commit a crime.
Upon the revocation of Unibank's license, it was discovered that the shareholders, with the help of some of the accused persons, had dishonestly appropriated an amount of GH¢5.7 billion.
Nii Dodoo explained that various entries were made into the account, specifically through petty cash vouchers and pay-in slips that were used to siphon funds out of Unibank.
He stated, “Some of the petty cash vouchers used to siphon out the GH¢ 56,295,000 were signed by Mr Paul Appiah Gyasi, Mr William Coleman, and Mr Benjamin Ofori, all officers of the bank.”
The entries were authorized by Mr Elijah Benson and other officers based on presented vouchers, with the purpose of benefiting the shareholders.
Additionally, the Receiver informed the Court that an amount of GH¢13.1 million was credited to the account of Maripoma Limited. The crediting of the account was conducted by Mr R. Mensah, a teller at the World Trade Centre branch of Unibank.
Describing the pay-in slips used for siphoning funds, Nii Dodoo stated that they were fictitious since there was no evidence of physical cash receipts in the bank's records.
He further noted that, in most cases, senior officers of the bank were required to authorize transactions in the banking software application of Unibank, but in this situation, that was not the case.
The trial was adjourned to May 17, 2023, for the continuation of cross-examination.
