Six people have been found guilty by the High Court in Tamale of participating in a payroll corruption scheme that used fictitious names and fraudulent salary payments to take advantage of the Ghana Education Service (GES).
Recipes for Ghanaian cuisine The Office of the Special Prosecutor’s (OSP) plea bargaining framework, which enabled complete restitution and reparations to the State, was used to secure the convictions.
It was discovered that the convicted individuals—who included accountants, payroll officers, and school administrators—had unlawfully verified and reactivated the wages of a teacher who had long since left his position.
The people found guilty are:
•Tahidu Yakubu, a former teacher at Balogu M/A Junior High School (Balogu JHS) in Yendi.
•Abdulai Abubakar Sadic, the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Database (IPPD) Coordinator for the Yendi Municipality.
•Sammy Suuk, the Schools Improvement Support Officer (SISO) for the Yendi North Circuit.
Mohammed Yusif Jay, former Headmaster of Balogu JHS.
•Stafford Korletey Azudey-Barres, an Assistant Chief Account Technician at the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department in Accra.
•Osman Issahaku, the current Headmaster of Balogu JHS, is responsible for validating teacher salaries at the school.
The OSP claims that because of their actions, over GHc86,000 was improperly disbursed; all of that money has since been recovered. In relation to the case, the OSP has recovered GHc106,319.64 in total.
According to the OSP, this case is a part of a larger, ongoing investigation into corruption related to payroll, and there are currently several other suspects under investigation.
The Office said in a statement that as part of its stepped-up efforts to hold public officials accountable and protect public funds, it now has six additional criminal trials in progress in Accra, Tamale, and Kumasi.
Ghana|Atinkanline.com| Najat Adamu
